


Cleaved

by StarsandSunkissed



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Business, Businessman Harry, Character Development, Drama, F/M, Fem!Harry, Female Harry Potter, Friendship, Gen, Girl-Who-Lived (Harry Potter), Growing Up, Harry knows about magic before Hogwarts, Humor, Magic, Magic and Science, Male-Female Friendship, Muggle Friend, Muggle Life, Muggle Technology, Muggle/Wizard Relations, Muggles, No pairings until 3rd year, Potioneer Harry Potter, Potions, Pre-Hogwarts, Romance, Science Fiction, Squibs, Starting a Business, Time Shifted AU, Wandless Magic, canon level abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:26:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 31,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25313044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarsandSunkissed/pseuds/StarsandSunkissed
Summary: By all rights, the story of Holly Potter and Alex Kann should have ended when they parted ways at age 11. Their destinies lay in different worlds: witch and Muggle; magic and science; Scotland and London. Then Alex came up with the idea of selling potions to Muggles. Their waning bond is revived, but can it last while running a nascent illegal business, the challenges of school and new relationships? Time-shifted AU, Pre-Hogwarts, Years 2-4
Comments: 10
Kudos: 43
Collections: Harry Potter OC Fanfiction





	1. Prologue Part I

**Author's Note:**

> Redoing this fic after a lot of edits and going over my outline.
> 
> I'd like to thank the wonderful folks over at DLP (Halt, Blor, Taure, TMD, Niez, Thejabber and Vira) for giving me critical feedback with my first chapter and summary. It would be (and was!) a much poorer story without them.
> 
> Weirdhunterangel, elohiniar, vivithefolle, hunting-ataraxia, peetamaellark, hillnerd and ibelieveinsherlockholmes221b on Tumblr were also essential, giving feedback on character interactions and behaviour of seven to eleven-year-olds.

**Prologue Part I: Before the Discovery**

**St. Grogory's Primary School, 2nd September 2003**

Sniffling, Holly Potter ran under the big oak tree by the edge of the grounds, buried her head into her knees, and cried. Dudley ruined everything for her. He pushed her around, made fun of her clothes, took her food and even stole the snacks Aunt Petunia would give her once in a while if she didn't do anything "freakish". He always had to spoil her day.

Today was the first day of school. She was finally in year three and two new girls, Angela and Corey, wanted to play with her during break. It was so much fun until her cousin and his friends came and scared them away.

Holly looked up through her black hair and wiped her eyes but more tears fell. This wasn't the first time Dudley scared someone who wanted to be her friend away. Last year it was Emily. Two years ago it was Ava. They both stayed away from her now. The rest of their yearmates did, too. Why did he have to make her upset?

Because you're a freak, she thought, glaring at Dudley.

Dudley kicked a ball high into the air and one of his friends caught it. The boys laughed. She clenched her fists. All she wanted was a friend, someone to play with and share secrets with. Even Dudley, Piers Polkiss, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon had each other, and _nobody_ liked them.

_Nobody likes you either._

Just as Dudley was about to kick again the ball split, sending him down with a yelp. Holly looked away. She'd done something 'freakish' again. She didn't know how. Whenever she got really angry, something odd would happen and she'd get in big trouble with her family. Her stomach hurt when she saw the break monitors checking over Dudley. What if they found out it was her?

"Are you okay?" said a red-haired boy, looking at her from a few feet away.

_Did he know it was her fault?_ "Yes."

The boy kicked a nearby stone. "Are you _sure?_ "

"Who asked you?" He was going to make fun of her. Dennis did it all the time so Dudley would laugh at her.

"Well, nobody. You just looked sad," he said as he sat down next to her.

"I'm not sad!" She turned away, wiping her cheeks. "Why don't you just leave me _alone!"_

The boy frowned. "Fine," he said, standing up. He brushed shed grass from his trousers and muttered, "Hope you feel better."

She stared at him in shock as he walked off before looking at Dudley again. He was holding up a piece of the shattered ball. A bunch of their yearmates surrounded him as he puffed out his chest and raised the ruined piece of rubber, like it was a big prize.

Her face soured. Now even _more_ people liked Dudley!

**~•~**

**St. Grogory's Primary School, 3rd September 2003**

"Good morning," said the red-haired boy cheerfully the next morning, sitting in the empty desk next to her.

Holly frowned. It was the same boy from yesterday at break. "What are you doing here?"

"Sitting," he said and moved his desk closer. "What's your name?"

She narrowed her eyes. Seats slid _away_ from her, not towards her. "Why do you want to know?"

"'Cause I want to be friends."

Friends? This had to be a trick. No one wanted to be her friend. Not with Dudley around. "No."

"But you don't have any," the boy said, confused.

She ignored the pang in her chest and glared at him. She knew she didn't have friends! "I don't need any. Go away."

The boy's cheerful expression fell. "Okay." He took his bag and went to the next closest seat.

Holly leaned against the wall in the corner her desk was next to. The boy didn't want to be her friend. He was probably faking. Dennis did the same thing last year. He told her that he and Dudley weren't friends anymore and that he was sorry for teasing her. Then a few days later he told everyone about the scar on her forehead that she hated and that her Aunt and Uncle didn't get her anything for Christmas. Everybody teased her about it for the rest of the year.

But he didn't seem like the sort to trick her, she thought, looking at him. Could he be telling the truth?

Holly shook her head. No. The boy didn't like her. He'd go away soon enough.

**~•~**

**St. Grogory's Primary School, 5th September 2003**

"Psst! Holly!" the boy stage-whispered.

Holly grit her teeth and pretended not to hear. Just keep working, she thought. He'll go away.

"Holly!"

"Mr Kann," said their teacher, Ms Michaels, from the front of the room. "Is your work complete?"

The boy nodded, holding up a neatly filled out Maths sheet with pride. "Yes Ms Michaels. I finished _five_ whole minutes ago!"

"I finished _five whole minutes_ ago," said Dudley to Piers in an over-the-top boastful tone as he covered his forehead with a fat hand, dramatically leaning back in his seat. "How will I live without work to do?"

Piers and several others laughed.

"What a swot."

The boy turned bright red.

"Mr Dursley, Mr Polkiss," she warned as she sent them a look.

When they went back to their work, Ms Michaels returned her attention to the boy. "If you've completed your work, remain quiet and do not distract your classmates. Do you understand?"

Kann stared at his desk. "Yes Ms Michaels," he muttered.

The room filled with titters before it went silent again. Holly didn't feel bad for him. Kann _had_ to be new. He should have known better. The only person that could be an annoying swot was Elizabeth Hughes, and that was because her parents gave money to the school every year. Even _Dudley_ left her alone.

She looked at him again. His face wasn't red anymore but he was still looking at his desk and twirled his pencil in his right hand. For the rest of class he didn't say a word, even though he clearly knew all the answers when they went over their classwork.

It couldn't hurt to say hello though, maybe during break? She shook off the thought. Today was Friday. By Monday he'd forget about her.

**~•~**

**St. Grogory's Primary School, 10th September 2003**

"Hi Holly!" said the annoying boy.

For whatever reason, Kann was _still_ talking to her. Every day he would walk in and sit next to her until she told him to leave her alone. He'd whisper to her, getting himself into trouble during class. He'd find her at break and share some odd fact about space—"Nobody knows how many stars there are up there"—before buggering off.

She was tired of it. He wouldn't leave her alone. How many times did she have to say it? _She didn't need friends!_

"Did you know that—"

"I don't want to talk to you," snapped Holly, throwing a ball against the tree.

"There's a planet that's made out of diamonds!"

"Yeah right." She threw the ball again. "Bother someone else."

"But—"

"Go away!" she yelled, slamming the ball on the grass.

"Woah," said Alex, watching the ball shoot up into the air like a rocket.

Holly paled.

"How'd you—"

"Hey freak!"

Uh-oh. Holly's stomach dropped when Dudley pranced over with his friends. "Give us the ball!" he said as he stretched out a chubby hand. "Or else!"

"Leave her alone!" said Kann.

"Shut up, no one was talking to you!" Gordon said.

Holly glared at Dudley. "What ball?"

Said ball fell back into her hands.

Dudley gave her an accusing glare and pointed. "That one!"

"Find your own!"

"No! I want it!"

She looked around. A few of their yearmates were watching what was happening, but none of them came to help.

"You can't have it, it's mine," she said, taking a step back.

Dudley cracked his knuckles. Holly swallowed. He wouldn't really hit her, would he? Boys weren't supposed to hit girls, Aunt Petunia always said so!

"Just leave us alone," the boy said.

"Bugger off, you stupid know-it-all," said Piers with a sneer. "This is between us and the weirdo."

Ignoring the laughter, Holly inched further away. If Kann was distracting Dudley, maybe she'd have a chance to get a break monitor.

"You can't tell us what to do," Kann said.

"Yes we can," Dudley said. The rest of his friends blocked the way, trapping them by the tree. "Why are you helping _her?_ Nobody likes her! That's why she's always by herself! Not even the _girls_ talk to her!"

"Oooh!"

Holly clutched the ball tighter. It was _Dudley's_ fault no one wanted to talk to her, not hers!

"If you want to play with someone, you can play with us," Malcolm said. "We're better than her."

"Yeah. She's just a dumb girl." Dennis sneered.

Holly could feel tears well in her eyes. She just wanted _one day_ where she would be left alone. Being noticed was never a good thing.

Kann tugged at her sleeve, whispering, "Come on Holly, let's go over there."

"We won't let you!" Dudley shouted. "Let's hit them!"

"Yeah!"

As they ran towards them, Kann pushed her away. "Stay behind me!"

_Where are the break monitors?_ "Help!"

"Shut up freak!" Dudley shouted as he pushed her to the ground.

"Back off!"

Dudley threw a punch and sent Kann down too. Piers, Malcolm and Dennis took turns kicking him while Gordon stopped anyone from getting close.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it!" Holly shouted.

Dudley kicked her leg. "Shut up!"

"My word!" Ms Michaels shouted. The other kids scattered as she rushed over to them. "What on Earth happened here?"

"They started it!" said Dudley quickly, pointing a fat finger at her and Alex. His friends nodded.

"Dudley Dursley, I know full well that's a lie!"

Dudley quivered his lip. "But—!"

"No buts! You're in big trouble, and so are the rest of you!"

Holly couldn't help but grin when Ms Michaels sent Dudley and his friends inside. She looked really angry. Malcolm had even started crying!

"Ow," muttered the boy as he got up. His clothes were covered in dirt and his hair had grass in it. "That hurt."

Oh, right. Kann came to help her.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah."

Holly bit her lip. No one had _ever_ defended her against Dudley or his friends. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't care, and he scared everyone else away a long time ago. Maybe she was wrong about him.

"Dudley's a twit," he said, shaking grass out of his hair. "And so are his friends."

Everyone knows that, she thought, letting out a snort by mistake. Her eyes widened.

The boy laughed. "That was cool!"

"I'm not supposed to do that." Aunt Petunia said it was unladylike.

"So? It's still cool. Watch this." He stuck two fingers in his mouth, letting out a whistle she had heard from some of Uncle Vernon's old movies. "My Mum doesn't like it."

"And she still lets you?" asked Holly, surprised.

"Yeah. My dad doesn't care," he said as he sat down next to the tree.

After a moment of hesitation, she followed.

The boy's eyes widened as if she took out a gold bar from her pocket.

"What?" she asked when he wouldn't stop staring.

"You're sitting next to me."

"So?"

"Aren't you going to tell me to leave you alone?"

Holly shook her head. "No. I was thinking that...if maybe..."

"Yeah?"

But Holly couldn't say that she wanted to be friends. She'd been really rude to him since they met, and Dudley attacking him because of her wouldn't help. There was no way he'd say yes and then she'd look stupid. And girls and boys couldn't be friends. Could they?

"I still want to be friends with you," the boy said quietly.

"Why?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. I just want to."

"Well...okay," she said.

The boy grinned widely. His teeth were slightly crooked and one was missing. "My name is Alex." He held out a hand.

She shook it firmly like Uncle Vernon always told Dudley to do. "I'm Holly," she said, even though he already knew.

"What month is your birthday in?"

"July," she replied.

"Mine's in May. January, February, March, April, May! Hah! I'm older than you. That means you have to listen to me," Alex said proudly.

"No, I don't!" she shouted and jumped to her feet. Who did he think he was? "You can't tell me what to do!"

Alex looked confused. "What?"

She glared at him. "Just because you're older than me doesn't mean you can boss me around!"

"I'm not! I was just..."

"Just what?"

"Joking," he said, looking away from her. "I guess I'm not very good at it."

Holly felt her face grew warm. "Oh." She suddenly felt very silly.

"Sorry," he said.

There was silence for a long moment.

"Did you, um, want to sit back down?"

Holly sat. "I'm sorry too," she muttered, looking down at her shabby dress. She _hated_ saying sorry. Her Aunt and Uncle always made her apologize to Dudley, even when she didn't do anything wrong.

"It's okay," said Alex, still not looking at her.

They sat in uncomfortable silence until the bell rang.

"Um," began Alex, "Can I..."

"Can you what?"

"Can I sit next to you in class?"

"That's what you do every day already," said Holly, confused.

"Yeah, but you tell me to bugger off every time."

Holly shrugged. "If you want to, I guess." No one else was going to.

Alex beamed.

**~•~**

**St. Grogory's Primary School, 11th September 2003**

"Psst!" Alex mumbled when Ms Michaels turned to the chalkboard.

"What?" she whispered back for the first time.

"Do you play catch?"

"No," she replied and spared a glance at their teacher to make sure she didn't notice. "Do you?"

Alex nodded again. "It's easy."

"Can you show me?"

"Yeah, but we have to get a ball."

"Okay."

Ms Michaels glanced at the clock. "We'll continue when you get back from break," she said, then eyed Alex and Holly. "And a reminder that there's to be no whispering while you're working."

Holly felt herself grow warm. Alex gave a sheepish smile just before the bell rang.

They headed to the storage cupboard where all the play stuff was kept, dodging a crowd of students. Alex handed her a red ball and started tapping his foot.

"Are you okay?"

Alex pinched his face. "Um...I have to use the fa-cil-ities."

Holly frowned. Sometimes, Alex used big words only their teacher knew. "What does _that_ mean?"

He started hopping from foot to foot. "I have to go to the loo."

Ew. "I'll be at the tree."

"Okay."

She went outside. Everyone was already playing, but she knew Alex would be there soon. He was always 'punctual', which he said meant 'on time'. For a boy, he was okay. Alex made her laugh and have fun. He sat with her at lunch yesterday and helped her with their history work. He was really good at learning dates and places, and he didn't make her feel dumb.

Having a boy for a friend also kept Dudley from bothering her. For the rest of yesterday and today, he didn't look at her once. She hoped it would last by tomorrow. Ms Michaels gave out behaviour reports for the week every Friday afternoon, and she knew Dudley's wouldn't be good.

Alex ran over to her. "Back."

She tossed him the ball and sat under the tree. "How do you play?"

"Just toss the ball back and forth."

That was it? Holly thought it would be harder. "Oh, okay."

They took turns tossing the ball and talking.

"Why do you like space so much?" she asked him after he said that moonlight was really _reflected_ sunlight.

"It's really cool," he said. "It's really big and there could be people on other planets!"

Holly thought about it. A planet full of Dudleys would be terrifying. She shuddered. "Yeah, I guess." She tossed the ball back to him.

"So what do your parents do? My mum's a therapist and my dad's an engineer," said Alex proudly. "She helps people and he builds things."

Holly caught the ball and stiffened. "My parents are dead."

There was silence for a long moment.

"Oh," Alex finally said, shifting uneasily. "Sorry."

"It's okay."

She tossed the ball back.

Alex scratched his head. "So, um, who do you live with?"

"Dudley and his parents. He's my cousin."

Alex blinked. He looked between her and Dudley in shock before finally saying, "You two don't look alike."

Holly shrugged. She didn't know what her mum and dad looked like, so she had no way of knowing.

Alex watched him and his friends bother the year twos. "Is he like that all the time?"

"Yeah. My Aunt and Uncle give him whatever he wants," she replied crossly. She had to do everything right just so that they'd accept her, while Dudley could do whatever he wanted.

"Oh." He tossed the ball into the air a few times. "Why just use your powers to make him leave you alone?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know, the thing you did with the ball yesterday to make it go really high. It was in the air for a half a minute before it came back down."

He saw? Holly swallowed. "I don't know what you're talking about. It was only a few seconds."

"No, I saw it disappear," said Alex, frowning as he tossed her the ball. "It went really high."

"It was just a few seconds."

"No it wasn't."

"Yes it was."

"No it wasn't!"

"Yes, it was!" said Holly with a scowl, squeezing the ball tightly. "It only took a few seconds! You just weren't looking!"

"I—" began Alex furiously, then took a deep breath. "Fine. Yeah. Maybe it got stuck in the tree?"

Holly nodded quickly, tossing the ball back to him. "Yeah."

Neither of them mentioned it was less bouncy than it was before.

**~•~**

**St. Grogory's Primary School, 12th September 2003**

"Is your aunt coming?" Alex asked after school.

Holly looked around. She didn't see Dudley or his friends anywhere. "I don't know."

"Don't worry. Mum can drop you off if she doesn't come."

She looked around again. Aunt Petunia picked up and dropped off Dudley every day. She took Holly too, even though she didn't want to because she didn't want to look bad. But if she got the report from Ms Michaels, she wouldn't want her in the car. She probably already left.

As much as she wanted to refuse, Privet Drive was three and a half miles from the school, and she wasn't completely certain of the way there.

"Alright," she said grudgingly, just as a grey car came into view.

"That's my mum," Alex said with a grin and pulled her up as he ran to it. "Mum! Mum! This is my friend, Holly."

The open window revealed a woman around her Aunt's age with chestnut hair and honey brown eyes. She looked at Holly with a kind smile. "Hello dear."

"Hi," she said shyly.

"Do you need a lift, Holly?"

"She does Mum," Alex said before she could reply. Holly shot him a dirty look.

"Do you know where you live?"

She nodded. "Privet Drive."

"That isn't too far from where we are. Let's get you home."

Mrs Kann was a better driver than Aunt Petunia, and they were in Little Whinging in no time at all.

"What's your house number?" asked Mrs Kann as she turned onto Magnolia Road. Like Privet Drive, it was full of large, square houses with perfectly manicured lawns, all owned by large, square owners who drove very clean cars similar to Uncle Vernon's.

"Four," she said. Riding in a car was much more relaxing when she didn't have to worry about Dudley pinching her.

Alex's mum turned onto Hazel Grove and made a right onto Privet Drive. Her stomach gave a funny lurch when she saw Aunt Petunia's car in the driveway.

"That's number four," she said and unbuckled her belt. "Thank you Mrs Kann."

"Not a problem, dear."

"See you Monday!" Alex waved as she slammed the door.

Holly waved back before she walked up to the house. She made sure they had driven away before she let herself in.

"Brat, get over here!" came Uncle Vernon's angry voice.

With a wince, she made her way into the kitchen. The Dursleys sat around the table with Dudley in the middle.

"We got a report from that teacher of yours. Saying our Diddydums and his friends beat up you and another student," said Petunia with a screech. "How dare you?"

That wasn't what happened, but Holly knew better than to say that. "I didn't lie, the teacher saw everything!" said Holly instead even though she knew they wouldn't believe her.

"She made that boy hit me!" Dudley quivered his lip. His eyes filled with fake tears. "And I didn't do anything!"

Dudley's whinging had convinced her Aunt and Uncle to send her to her room for the rest of the day. More than ever, she wished she could get away from Privet Drive.

**~•~**

**St. Grogory's Primary School, 24th October 2003**

"Morning Holly," said Alex cheerfully.

Holly glowered, watching Dudley run in before she took her seat. "Morning."

He looked over her. "Are you okay?"

Holly opted to cover her bruised and scraped knees rather than answer.

"What happened?"

"Belt up," she hissed.

"I just wanna know what's wrong," said Alex, looking upset.

Holly sighed. It wasn't Alex's fault. "Dudley pushed me out of the car because Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't want to get him the Halloween costume he wants."

Alex turned to look at Dudley, who was laughing in a corner with the rest of his friends. "What did your Aunt say?"

"Nothing."

Alex looked confused. "But didn't she see him do it?"

"She doesn't care," said Holly, sinking in her seat when Ms Michaels came in.

For the rest of the lesson, Alex was very quiet. He didn't answer any questions or whisper anything to her. It was only when they left the classroom for break that he talked to her.

"Maybe you should go to the nurse," he said as they went outside.

She shook her head. Going to the nurse meant Aunt Petunia would be called and she'd get into trouble again. "It'll go away."

"But—"

"No. Please don't tell anyone?" Holly said, her eyes boring into his. "Just this once?"

Alex looked between her and Dudley, who was now bullying the year ones. He sighed. "Fine."

She let out a relieved breath. "Thanks Alex."

He didn't respond. They sat in silence under the tree, but it was nice. She took her time gathering the changing leaves around them and putting them into a pile.

"Wanna come to my house after school?" asked Alex suddenly.

Her stack fell over. "What?"

"Do you want to come over to my house after school?" Alex repeated, now more excited. "I wanted to ask earlier, but I kept forgetting."

Holly wasn't surprised at that. She couldn't help but feel doubtful though. "Really?"

"Yeah! I have all sorts of new toys!"

"New toys?" asked Holly in wonder. She never got new toys, or new _anything_ at that. All she had was broken, old stuff that nobody wanted anymore.

"Yeah, and I got a beanbag chair for my birthday. It has planets and stars on it."

"What's a beanbag chair?"

"It's..." Alex furrowed his brow, "a chair that you can sit on and it moves with you."

"Like play-doh?"

"Kinda. There's loads of tiny beads in it."

Now she was confused. "Isn't it itchy?"

"No, it's really nice to sit on."

"Oh."

"So will you?" Alex asked hopefully.

Holly frowned. "I dunno. My Aunt and Uncle won't let me."

"Why? It's Friday and we're friends. Friends go to each other's houses."

"I'm not allowed to have friends over."

Alex looked thoughtful for a moment before lighting up. "Yeah, to _your_ house, not _mine_ ," he said with a grin.

That wouldn't work with Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. "They _still_ won't let me."

"But you don't have to tell them where you went."

Holly rolled her eyes. That would just be asking for no food for the weekend. "What if I say no?"

Alex gave her an unblinking stare. "Then I'll have to do this." He widened his eyes and pouted, resembling an adorable puppy.

Holly stared at him in disbelief. It was what Dudley did to get extra pudding at dinner or a new toy from the store, but _much_ cuter. She looked up and watched a red squirrel run across the branches.

_Maybe if I ignore it, he'll stop doing it._ She glanced back but he was still pouting, now with his head tilted to the side for extra effect.

"Knock it off," she said, feeling her conviction weaken by the second.

But Alex remained silent, still looking at her with puppy-dog eyes. Holly slouched against the tree. "Fine. You win."

He pumped a fist. "Yes! It worked!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw an empty area on the pavement and smirked. "Come on," she said, pulling them both to their feet.

Alex stopped cheering and looked at her in confusion. "Why? Where are we going?"

"Spot's free," she said as she walked them over to the chalk bin. Holly examined a bright green piece casually before kneeling down.

"What do you—" Understanding came to his face. _"No."_

"Yes," said Holly as she drew the squares.

"But I'm a boy!"

"So?"

"Boys aren't supposed to play hopscotch!"

"And boys aren't supposed to be friends with girls!" she said. Holly knew that he couldn't—and wouldn't—argue with _that_.

Alex crossed his arms and looked between the court and her in silence. "...Fine," he finally said, not looking very happy.

Holly beamed. "I'll go get some stones!"

* * *

"What do engineers do?" she asked after she took a forkful of noodles. The choice to stay for dinner was easy. Mrs Kann had loaded her plate with as much food she wanted. Her plate was almost as full as Alex's! That _never_ happened at her house.

The drive to Alex's house was similar to going to hers', only shorter. They turned into a funny-shaped road called Magnolia Crescent and parked in the first house on the street. While a lot of the houses looked 'identical', his house was different. There were grey lined panels on the roof and small green bushes lining the path instead of flowers. The inside had wooden floors and light brown walls that made the house feel warm and welcoming.

Alex's room was what she expected, too. Space stuff everywhere, with a ceiling painted black that showed all "eighty-eight con-stel-la-tions" when it was dark outside. The beanbag chair was much more comfortable than he made it out to be. She was nearly asleep on it by dinnertime.

Mr Kann, Alex's father, looked surprised for a moment before cracking a grin. "An excellent question, Holly! It greatly depends on what you choose. Civil focuses on things that don't move, like bridges and buildings. Mechanical centres on things that do move, from components to machines to the human body itself."

"Wow, that's really interesting!"

"It is," he nodded. "There is some overlap between fields. Aerospace and mechanical, electrical and computer, chemical and petroleum...there are hundreds of different subsets."

She had no idea what any of that meant, so she asked, "What do you work as, Mr Kann?"

"I'm a mechanical engineer. We're currently creating satellites and researching interplanetary internet at Surrey Satellite Technology."

Alex perked up at that. "Interplanetary internet?"

Mr Kann went into detail about how a computer network would work in space with the speed of light delays and other problems, but Holly was more interested in the idea of creating things. It would be so cool to make things like flying cars and jetpacks, or even helpful stuff like a cloth that dried dishes on its own. Could she design a broomstick from a fairy tale to fly?

_That's ridiculous._ She wanted to shake her head but speared a meatball instead. If it was possible, someone would have done it already.

"So dad," began Alex, "can normal humans make things happen?"

Oh no. Holly's fork froze on the way to her mouth. Alex, you twit!

His father frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Like making things stay really high up in the air. I know that we saw—I mean, it happened on—um, yeah." He ate a meatball and stared down on his plate.

His parents didn't look pleased with what Alex had said. His father was giving her a strange look, and his mother looked pale. With a gulp, Holly speared a piece of broccoli. Nothing good could come out of this.

"Well, I'm going home," she said fifteen minutes later after polishing her plate. The silence had become too much. "Thank you for the food!"

Mrs Kann smiled. "I'll drive you home dear, it's a bit late to be walking."

Alex leapt from his seat. "I'll come too!"

"Alexander," his father said in a tone that reminded her of Uncle Vernon's whenever Dudley got into trouble.

"Or not." He sat back down.

Holly felt a pang of worry for him. "See you Monday."

"If I'm still alive."

* * *

"Where have you been?" started Petunia when she opened the door and saw Holly. "I won't have you—"

"Good evening, Mrs Dursley," said Mrs Kann with narrowed eyes.

Petunia stepped back. She clearly hadn't noticed there was another adult. "Brought her home now, did you? This one is always causing trouble."

"As a matter of fact, Holly has been a delight. My son invited her over and we're happy to have her," Mrs Kann said.

Petunia flustered. "Yes, well. I won't have her burden you any longer."

Holly stiffened. With the word 'burden' came _talks_ about how lucky she was that they decided to take her in and how grateful she should be.

Mrs Kann seemed to know that Aunt Petunia wasn't telling the truth. She pursed her lips. "Actually, we'd like to have her over again. My son's siblings are quite young and he needs friends his age. Especially after that Dudley boy attacked him."

Aunt Petunia went pale and Holly's eyes widened in disbelief. "Yes, well, if the girl—ahem, Holly, agrees, I suppose it's all right."

She looked between the two women and nodded slowly.

Mrs Kann smiled. "Then it's settled." She bent to her level. "You can call us if you need anything."

**~•~**

**Little Whinging Play Park, Magnolia Road, 25th March 2004**

_It's colder up here._ Holly shivered as she looked at the ground. She was going to be in _so_ much trouble.

"Holly?" called Alex from below. "Holly!"

She swallowed. It happened again. She had no clue why and now Alex was going to hate her once he found out how _strange_ she was.

Holly wanted to cry.

Alex huffed beneath her. He looked _tiny_. "You won, okay? Now come out! Mum said we have to go soon!"

"I can't," she whispered. She had no clue how high up she was.

"HOLLY!"

"Up here!" She was _never_ playing hide-and-seek again.

"Where? Keep talking so I can hear you!"

"In the tree! Help! I don't know what happened!"

Alex reached the base of the trunk and looked up. "Woah! How'd you climb that high?"

"I don't know!"

"Will you be able to get down?"

"No! Can you help me?"

"You're really high up!"

She gulped.

"Can you reach the next branch?"

Holly eyed one a few feet away. "I think so!"

"Try to climb to it!"

She calmed her shaky fingers and slowly made her way down.

"There's a few more," Alex said after she was safe. "One's only a few feet away."

They did it again and again. Alex pointed out strong branches for her to climb to and Holly slowly made her way to the ground. As she went further down, there were far fewer branches she could reach. Then, on the second to last branch, she slipped.

"No!"

I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die, she thought, even as her friend rushed towards her. Holly felt something odd, though. The wind didn't rush past her anymore—she wasn't falling as fast as she thought she should. She touched the ground gently with a smile.

"I'm okay!" She turned to Alex.

He looked at her strangely, as if...well, as if she had flown. "You floated," he said matter-of-factly, his eyes wide.

Holly didn't know what to say. "Yeah."

Alex continued to eye her. "That had to be _at least_ a storey high."

She nodded timidly. She knew she should have some bruises, no less, from a fall that high. Her freakishness saved her. But what would happen now? Alex was still staring at her, his face oddly blank.

_He's going to leave. He's going to leave and be Dudley's friend now._

"That," began Alex slowly.

Holly tensed. _He's going to leave. He's going to leave. He's going to leave._

Then his face widened into a grin. "Was awesome!"

Relief filled her chest. "Really?" she asked.

"Yeah!" nodded Alex eagerly. "You went from rushing to the ground to _floating!_ How'd you do it? Is that how Dudley's ball exploded? And how it took ages for the other one to get to the ground?"

She bit her lip. Could she tell him her secret? He was her best friend and it had been months and he still hadn't gone away. Dennis only lasted a few days. Angela and Corey didn't even last half an hour. If Alex was going to blab, he would have done it already. She could trust him.

"I...I don't know. Sometimes when I'm angry, or sad, or happy, things happen around me. I can't control it, it just happens."

Alex hmmed and put his left hand on his right elbow. He tapped his chin. "So you can't do it whenever you want?"

Holly shook her head.

"Have you ever _tried?_ "

Another shake. "I wish I could. That'd be wicked."

He nodded as if she was a teacher who said something interesting. "I've got an idea. You could practice!"

"Practice?"

"Yeah! Like experiments my dad does. What did you want to happen when you were floating?"

Holly shrugged. "I just didn't want to fall."

"Is that what you were thinking?"

"Yeah. I didn't want to get hurt."

"Maybe that's what you need to do!" Alex's eyes sparked with excitement. "You have to really _really_ want it to happen!"

"I don't know if it'll work..."

"It's worth a go. Besides, if you can control it, maybe your Aunt won't be so mean to you."

That was good enough for her. "Okay."

Alex picked up a rock. "Alright, I'm going to toss it and you'll make it float."

Holly nodded.

"Catch!"

_Float, float, float. Please float._

Unmoved by her wishes, the rock fell to the ground.

"Don't worry," said Alex. "We'll figure it out."

"We?" said Holly in shock. She thought Alex would give her a few ideas but stay out of it. He wanted to _help_ her?

"Well, yeah," Alex said with a shrug. "There has to be something about it somewhere."

With a happy smile, Holly hugged him as hard as she could. When she let go, Alex gave her a confused look.

"Why'd you hug me?" he asked.

"'Cause I was happy you're still my friend." Did she do something bad? "I'm sorry, I've never hugged anyone before."

Alex gasped. "Never?"

Holly shook her head. Petunia would always hug Dudley and kiss him on the cheek, but not her.

"Oh," Alex said. He frowned. "Well, I guess it's okay _sometimes_. But no one else can see. Boys don't hug."

Holly grinned and hugged him again. This time, he hugged her back.

**~•~**

**Kann house, 3rd July 2004**

"Uno," said Holly after placing a red seven.

Alex groaned and picked up a card from the deck. Holly grinned and put down a red four. "Uno out! I win again!"

" _I'll_ shuffle this time," grumbled Alex as he used his foot to mix up the cards.

"I thought _winner_ got to mix-up."

Alex huffed, collecting them. "That was _before_ you won four times in a row."

She giggled as he arranged the deck. "This is fun. How'd you get the game?"

"Dad bought it at Tesco." Alex dealt out the cards. "You first."

Holly dropped a red five on the starting card. "How's summer?"

"Good! We're going to go on holiday soon." He placed a yellow five. "I can't wait!"

Holly paused with her hand on a yellow skip card. "Holiday? When are you going?"

"Next Saturday. My parents want to explore other...places."

She ignored the odd pause and placed the skip followed by a yellow five. "Even with the twins?" she asked as she referenced Alex's younger brother and sister Samuel and Rhea. They were adorable three-year-olds that always hid Alex's things. Holly found the sibling rivalry sweet.

Alex nodded, placing a blue five.

"When will you guys come back?" Holly asked, holding in a breath as she added a blue one.

"I dunno. Dad said he wants to spend at least two _weeks_ there, so that's"—he counted softly—"fourteen days." A green one.

Holly gasped. "That's half of the month!"

"I know. I asked if you could come, but my parents said—"

"I can't leave unless the Dursleys say so." Holly finished annoyed. "Right."

"I'm sorry," Alex said.

"Where are you guys going?"

He immediately looked off to the side. "No clue."

Holly rolled her eyes. "That's rubbish. You know _everything_." Alex had one of the highest grades in the class. His parents were Doctors, after all.

"No, I don't. Elizabeth scored higher on me on the last test." He frowned. "I was so close too."

"It was one point!"

Alex's competitiveness was something she'd never understand, but at least he wasn't _too_ obnoxious about it. She nudged him to get back to the topic at hand. "Where are you guys going?"

He looked at his cards. "I'm not supposed to say anything. Mum and Dad only told me because I said I'd keep it to myself."

" _Please?_ I won't tell _anyone_." Granted, she had no one to tell, but that had to count for something, right?

Alex looked at her, uncertain now. "You're not gonna believe me."

Holly put a card down. "Yes I will."

"You're _sure?"_

"Positive," Holly grinned and set her cards face down next to her. "Now tell me!"

"We're going into space," Alex said excitedly, forgetting the game entirely. "My dad rented a spaceship and we're going to visit all the planets and stuff. Seeing Mars should be fun and all, but I want to see _all_ of the Galilean moons. Did you know Jupiter's smallest moon, Europa, is covered in ice? Dad says that water might be under the surface! It'll be really cool to visit, don't you think? And then we're going to tour—"

"Wait a minute, did you say you're going to _space?_ " asked Holly, confused. That was impossible.

But Alex seemed to think it was true and nodded so quickly she thought his head would fall off. "Yeah! I mean, there's not a lot there and we'll have to stay inside the ship because the gravity and at-mos-phere of some planets and moons, but Dad said I can add some rocks to my collection—"

"You don't have to lie to me," Holly snapped.

"What do you mean? I'm not lying!" defended Alex.

"Yes you are! You told me it's been almost five _years_ since the last spacewalk!"

"Yeah, but that was before dad told me about the spaceship."

" _Spaceship?_ People don't have spaceships! That's impossible!"

"No it's not!"

"Yes it is!"

Alex crossed his arms. He looked angry. "I knew I shouldn't have told you about _my_ family holiday. It's not like you're going with us."

Holly reeled back as if slapped. _How could he?_ She felt sick. "Yeah? Well...well—"

"Well _what?"_ Alex said, challenging her.

"Don't bring it up then!"

Alex leaned back in his chair and rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You're just jealous."

With a snarl, Holly threw her cards in his face and stormed out of the room, down the stairs and out of the house.

_How could he? He's supposed to be my friend!_ Holly made her way down the Crescent. _If he thinks he can lie to me he can bugger off!_ She crossed the road and entered the Alley through Wisteria Walk.

She kicked a stone. Stupid Alex and his stupid space obsession! Everyone knew only grown-ups with special training could go into space. They had to train for years and years and _years_ and only a few people got the chance to go. Every single VHS tape they watched about space said that! He _told_ her that! Now he was lying to her and she hated it.

In her anger she'd crossed from Wisteria to Hazel Grove and was at Privet Drive. Both cars were gone.

_Good._

But deep down, she was hurt. She knew Alex and his family were a little strange, but they were always nice to her. She spent more time at number thirty than at number four and had even slept over more than once. Why would they lie to her? Was it because she wasn't part of the family?

Holly kicked off her shoes and fell back on the bed.

"I'm not jealous," she muttered as she wrapped herself in a thin sheet. "I'm _not_."

**~•~**

**Little Whinging play park, 28th July 2004**

Holly could feel her dress cling to her back. Her ice lolly was melting faster than she could eat it, and by the time she got to the park, a large chunk fell off the stick.

She glared at the half-melted treat. _That was a pound fifty._ She tossed the rest away and went to the play area. The swings were free, so she sat there. A few of her yearmates were there with their parents, running through the grass and playing catch. She began to move, going as high up as she could.

_I wonder what it would be like to fly?_ she thought as a summer breeze drifted by. _Alex would—_

Holly stopped swinging. She wouldn't think about it. Weeks had passed since the fight and he hadn't apologized for lying to her. She would rather he didn't tell her anything at all instead of making something up.

"Holly?" a familiar voice asked.

She didn't turn around. "What?"

"Can—May I sit with you?"

Holly shrugged and he sat on the swing next to her. Neither looked at the other.

"I'm back," he said.

"Clearly." She began to swing again.

Alex followed. "Can I talk to you?"

"We are."

"Properly."

"Fine," she snapped, stopping for a second time. "What do you want?"

Alex took a deep breath. "I'm sorry for lying to you and calling you jealous. I shouldn't have."

She finally looked at him. He was far less cheerful and seemed sorry for what he did.

"Alright. Where did you really go then?"

"France," he said easily. "We saw the Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum and loads of other places." He pulled a postcard from his pocket. "See?"

She removed a sticky hand from the chain and held the card by its corners. A photo of the Eiffel Tower was on the back of it, along with a taped picture of him and his family, smiles on their faces as they stood in front of an odd, triangle-shaped building. The beauty of the background was clear even though she was looking through her smudged lenses.

Holly swallowed, handing the card back to him. "Okay."

_"And?"_

She looked at him in confusion. _What is he going on about—Oh._ She stared at the ground in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. For throwing cards in your face."

He patted her back. "It's okay."

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Holly?"

"Yeah?"

Alex had an odd expression on his face, looking between her and the sky that was turning orange. "Um...did you want to get something to eat? Mum's picking up lamb curry."

She had never tried curry before. Uncle Vernon said it was too 'foreign'. "Okay."

**~•~**

**Kann House, 10th August 2004**

"I'll hide this time."

"What? Why?"

"Because it's your house and you know where all the good spots are."

Alex huffed and covered his eyes. "Fine. One, two, three, four..."

Holly rushed out, tiptoeing past the twins' room and down the stairs. Alex's mum had a patient so they weren't supposed to be playing loud games, but Alex had gotten bored with Uno and there wasn't much else to do.

She dismissed the kitchen and parlour as hiding spots. Outside wasn't an option. The closets were too easy.

"Coming down!" Alex whisper-shouted from the top of the stairway.

_Better hurry._ The house was larger than it looked. There had to be a spot _somewhere_.

She could hear pillows hit the ground as Alex looked through the sitting room.

Maybe he won't see my feet if I hide behind here? she thought, looking over the wall hangings. Footsteps came from around the corner and she quickly ducked behind one.

_That was close._ Holly turned to leave when she noticed the area she was hiding behind wasn't even with the rest of the wall.

"Why's there a door here?"

She turned the handle. It opened easily, revealing a dimly-lit dusty room.

There wasn't much inside. Other than an old record player, an ancient-looking answering machine and some boxes, the room was sparse.

Holly huffed. She had to go fifteen minutes without being found to win, so she was stuck here for a while. She looked through the box of old clothes. They looked like the stuff people used to wear a long time ago, but different. Like a really long coat that went all the way down and didn't open. Holly felt cooler after she tried it on even though it was heavy and too long for her.

The next box was full of old-fashioned books. One title caught her eye.

_SO YOUR CHILD IS A SQUIB! by Idris Oakby_

"Squib?" _That_ was a strange word. She fixed her glasses and read further.

_A Comprehensive Guide created by Squibs for Squibs to pursue their passions to the best of their abilities._

_What is a Squib?_

A Squib is a non-magical person with two magical parents. They are very rare.

_Can Squibs learn magic?_

Unfortunately not, but they are capable of seeing through Muggle-Repelling enchantments and caring for magical creatures!

_Can Squibs go to Hogwarts?_

Hogwarts does not accept non-magical children. They can be accepted as janitorial staff at Hogwarts upon reaching the legal age of an adult (17 in the Wizarding world, 18 in the Muggle world). They can also be accepted as a member of staff, such as a Muggle Studies teacher!

_What options do Squibs have?_

There are plenty of options for a Squib in the magical world! Education and career opportunities lie in the Muggle world, but in the magical world Squibs can become secretaries or cleaning staff, or if they're really ambitious, a Muggle Studies specialist, or more!

_Magic? Magical creatures? Hogwarts?_ Holly put down the book. Her head was spinning. Magic was real? Was what she could do magic? Was that why her relatives hated her? She could do _magic?_

She needed to find out more. Most of the books only yielded more Squib stuff, except for one thin title: _Magical Concepts Made Easy by —_

"Huh, this door's always locked," a voice said.

She slammed the book shut with a yelp. "Alex!"

"Sorry," he replied, but his grin showed he wasn't sorry at all. "You won." Then he frowned. "What's that?"

Holly stood from her crouch and told him everything.

Alex didn't look convinced. "So you think you're a witch?"

"How else would you explain everything?"

He paused. "But magic isn't real."

Holly crossed her arms and huffed. "You think _aliens_ exist."

Alex glared at her but didn't say anything.

"Look, try this on," she said, taking off the robe. "It's really cool."

"I'm _not_ wearing a dress."

"It's not a dress!"

"How would you know?"

"I just know!" She stamped her foot. "Look, just put your hand in it and you'll see."

Alex rolled his eyes but slipped his hand in the sleeve. His eyes widened in shock. "Woah."

"See? I told you," said Holly smugly. "It's a _magical_ robe."

Alex looked bewildered. "That's not possible."

"But it is! And look at this." She picked a book and handed it to him.

" _My Life As A Squib_ by Angus Buchanan? What's a Squib?"

"Someone born without magic. But they have a magical mum and dad," explained Holly.

"Or," corrected Alex briefly as he looked at the Oakby book. "So my mum or dad is a...Squib?"

"Or both of them." She put on a pointy hat. "That's why they have all this magic stuff. What are you doing?"

Alex shifted his armful of books. "We have to learn more, don't we? I don't think mum or dad is going to tell us anything, and we might not be able to get in here again."

"Okay." Holly picked up _Magical Concepts_ eagerly. "We're reading this one first."


	2. Prologue Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Mojo, Chuck, N. Chan, P. Peters, Malvika R, and Anon users on Discord for giving this a look.
> 
> Weirdhunterangel also has my thanks again.

**Prologue Part II: After the Discovery**

**Figg Residence, 23 Wisteria Walk, 31st October 2004**

"Oh! Doesn't Tufty look absolutely _adorable_ in that bonnet?" cooed Ms Figg. Holly was sitting on the floor in front of the armchair, holding one the many cat albums the lady had put together.

"He looks...nice," Holly said, wishing she could leave. She took a quick glance outside and saw several of her yearmates walking around with their parents with bags full of sweets. Just like every other year.

Time to put Alex's plan into action.

"Um, Ms Figg?"

The woman turned her watery eyes to her. "Yes dear?"

"I have to go to the loo."

"The restroom, dear," she corrected. "Very well."

Holly rushed in and locked the door. That went easier than she thought it would. She eyed the only window in the room, right above the toilet.

_"First, you have to get away from Ms Figg. Say you have to go to the loo or something."_ Alex had said earlier that day as he planned her escape from Ms Figg. _"Is there a window? What floor is it on?"_

Holly had tried to remember. _"Yeah, there is_. _It's on the ground floor."_

_"Good. You'll jump out and—"_

_"From the window!?"_

_"Duh. That's how you'll get out without her seeing!"_

_This shouldn't be too hard._ The sun was almost down and the loo was facing away from the street, so she wouldn't be seen easily. She unlocked the window and climbed on the toilet.

_Here goes!_ She landed on the grass with an _Oof!_ Her control with 'accidental magic' was _still_ shaky.

"Ow." She wiggled one of her loose teeth.

"Holly?" came Ms Figg's muffled voice. "Have you finished? It's time for tea and biscuits!"

She ran off.

_"Then you just have to come over. You know where my house is, right?"_

_"Er—"_

_"Magnolia Crescent, the last house down. Number Thirty, remember?"_

_Holly nodded._

Thankfully Ms Figg's house was close to the Alley. She crossed the road, took the shortcut and entered the Crescent, doing her best to blend in with the other trick-or-treaters.

_I hope Dudley and Aunt Petunia don't see me_ , she thought as she made her way down the pavement. It didn't seem that far by car, but walking took forever. She looked down every time she thought she saw a year-mate and narrowly avoided another before reaching number thirty.

"You made it!" said Alex happily when he answered the door. "Come on, Mum has your costume ready."

"What are you going as?" she asked. He was wearing loose-fitting tan pants, an over-tunic and a cloak with a hood.

"Luke Skywalker," he said, right before the twins ran past them. "Oi! Watch it!"

The toddlers giggled.

"Hi!" one of them said.

"Hello, um..."

"Rae!"

"Rhea. Hello."

The brown-haired girl pouted.

"Don't mind her. She and Sam are just jealous they can't go with us," he said, guiding her towards the second sitting room.

"What am I going as?"

"A witch."

Holly stopped in her tracks. "Are you _mad?_ What if your mum finds out?"

"Mum thought up the costume, not me," he said, raising his hands in defence.

Still unconvinced, she asked, "She hasn't found the books, has she?" Over the last two months they had read _Magical Concepts_ multiple times, along with several of the Squib books. It painted a somewhat unfriendly picture of the Wizarding world but they were curious to learn more. There was just something about it that made it so, in Alex's words, 'cap-ti-vating'.

Alex shook his head. "Nah, I hid them pretty well. Besides, what are the chances of her going into the room?"

The chances seemed pretty good, in her opinion, but there wasn't much she could do. Hiding it with the Dursleys wasn't an option. "I guess," she muttered.

"So," said Alex as he took out his lightsaber and posed in a heroic stance. "Are you ready to begin on our mission, oh wise witch?"

She rolled her eyes but couldn't help the smile that came to her lips. "What is this mission?"

"To collect as many sweets as possible!"

* * *

They'd been out for two and a half hours and had gathered a sizable amount of sweets—and pennies, for some reason—before heading back.

Alex was very pleased. "Good haul this year," he said, dumping his lot on the sitting room floor. "Much better than last year's."

"Just don't overdo it," Holly snorted. Last year had revealed his serious sweet tooth.

He paused. "Don't you trust me?"

"Not with sweets."

Alex shook his head and started counting. "Let's see, twenty eggs, twenty-five packets of wine gums, three boxes of Smarties, six lollies..."

Meanwhile, the twins walked into the room, looking over the sweet collection in delight.

"Ooh, can I have one?" asked Sam, pointing at a lolly.

"No."

"Pweese?"

"No," repeated Alex. "Three Starbursts." He eyed a Terry's Chocolate Orange with delight. "One box of chocolate orange, six galaxy bars—"

"Can _I_ have one?" asked Rhea.

"I said no," Alex snapped. "Five dairy milks, eight jelly babies, four Mars' bars, two flake bars—"

Holly brightened. "Oh, can I have one of those?"

Much more nicely, he said, "Yeah, sure, just let me finish. Three rock sticks and loads of crisps." He shook his empty bag to check for leftover sweets. "I think that's everything."

" _Now_ can I have one?"

Alex checked his sweets. "No. Stop bothering us."

Sam pouted.

"Maybe we should give them one," Holly said, reaching into her own bag and taking out two lollies. "Here."

"Thank you!" they said in unison.

He shrugged and tossed a deformed Mars' bar to the side. "Your loss."

"Tastes funny," said Sam, who had easily taken off the wrapper of the sweet.

Alex snapped his head up. "What do you mean, funny?"

Sam stopped licking. "Like sick."

"Stop eating it," Alex said, hopping to his feet.

"No! Mine!"

Rhea, who had torn the last bits of wrapper off her's, smiled. "Yummy!" She licked.

"No, stop eating it!"

"It's mine!"

"No!"

Alex was trying to get the sweets away from them while Holly looked on in confusion. "What's going on?"

"You're supposed to check the sweets to make sure they aren't messed with! Hand them over!"

"No!"

Holly's stomach dropped. She didn't know that. Did Dudley ever check his, or does Aunt Petunia take care of it? Either way, she had to do something.

"Sam, Rhea, Alex has to take those back."

They shook their heads. Alex looked like he was about to lose his temper.

"Come on, give them to me," she held out a hand, and to her surprise, the lollies jerked out of their hands and into her's.

For a brief, fleeting moment the twins gaped at her before screaming and running out of the room.

Alex blinked, looking between her and the door his siblings ran out of. "Well, this isn't good."

**~•~**

**4 Privet Drive, 25th December 2004**

Holly stared at the hot roast that had splattered on the floor. _Aunt Petunia will kill me._ If she didn't, Aunt Marge would.

The pan was too hot for her to carry and she didn't see the oven gloves anywhere and Aunt Petunia pushed her into the kitchen to take the roast beef out of the oven and now she was in big trouble. Someone would walk in any minute and they'd kill her. "Very expensive, that roast", Uncle Vernon had said multiple times.

She wanted to use magic, but her 'attempts' were 'inconsistent', according to Alex. Most of the time she couldn't make anything happen, but when it _did,_ things would go completely out of hand. Having the Christmas roast splattered all over the floor _and_ ceiling would only make things worse.

"Yes, yes, the girl's getting it out of the oven." Holly heard Aunt Petunia say from behind the door.

Please, please, _please_ work, she thought, trying not to panic and make an even bigger mess as her footsteps came closer. The pan stubbornly remained on the floor. Holly wanted to cry. What good was having magic if you couldn't use it when you really needed to?

Taking a deep breath, Holly aimed her hands at the pan, imagining the roast being how it was supposed to be, upright and on the counter. She _knew_ she could do it. She _wanted_ it to happen. She could _picture_ it. _Slow and steady. Think about what the book said. Belief, desire and focus. Belief, desire and focus._

It was as if she had pressed 'rewind' on a VCR—the pot roast and all its juices and vegetables floated back into the pan, reversing from its upside-down state. The floor was clean again.

Now for the hard part. Holly pulled into how she felt before, the feeling that everything _had_ to go right and raised her hands again. She imagined the roast rising onto the kitchen table. She _wanted_ it to. It _had to_.

Sluggishly, the pan obeyed, lowering itself on the table with a clang just as Aunt Petunia opened the door.

She narrowed her eyes. "It's taken you long enough," she grabbed the pan, touching the handle for a moment before letting go with a hiss.

_Oh no._ Holly winced. It was still hot. Aunt Petunia would be upset with her like anything if she found out the roast had been on the floor, or that she had used magic.

Aunt Petunia stared at Holly dubiously for a moment before going to the highest pantry, the one she and Dudley couldn't reach.

She put on a new pair of gloves and snapped, "Wash up," before leaving.

_It worked! It really worked!_ Holly let out a relieved sigh. She knew by the time she was finished the roast would be mostly gone and Aunt Marge would insult her, but none of that mattered. She was _safe_.

The exhaustion was well worth it.

**~•~**

**Kann House, 4th June 2005**

"Steady, steady..."

Holly felt her arms ache. "Am I close now?"

"Almost. It has to go on the hooks right, or else it'll fall."

But she had never spent such a long time holding something so heavy in the air. She lowered the model of the solar system onto his desk with a sigh. "I can't do it."

"Holly—"

She collapsed on the beanbag chair. "It's too heavy. And it's your birthday gift."

"So?"

" _So?_ You've wanted it since _Christmas_!"

Alex gave a nonchalant shrug from his place on top of the bookshelf. "I changed my mind."

"Well, so have I."

"You couldn't even lift a rock—"

"It was a pebble—"

"—A year ago. Now you can."

"There's a difference between a pebble and _that,_ " she said, pointing at the model.

He shrugged. "If you really think you _can't_ do it, I won't force you to."

"Good, so what do you want..." she trailed off, then narrowed her eyes and said, "What do you mean, _can't_?"

"Well, the book said that most adults aren't able to do wandless magic, so if it's _insurmountable_ , I understand."

Holly glared at his carefully blank face. It stunk of a set-up but she wasn't going to let it stand. "You're a prat," she said as she got up.

Alex grinned, showing a partially regrown tooth. "That's not what my marks say."

She closed her eyes. The lessons from the book were simple: belief, desire and focus were the bare bones of spellcasting. The other parts, like skill, came with practice.

"Alright."

She opened her eyes, pointing her hands at the model. Tapping into the same feeling she had when lifting the roast was easy, but the model was harder. There were a lot of moving parts, they were heavier, and she had to make sure everything was up at the same time. All the strings holding them had to be hooked to the ceiling one after the other, but after she'd hook one, another one would come undone.

"Think about how it would feel to carry them," suggested Alex.

She grit her teeth. "It doesn't _work_ like that. I have to lift it with my magic."

"How?"

She attached another loop. "I don't know, it's what the book said!"

Alex eyed the hooks again. "Okay, just one more right here..."

Pinpointing the right hook, she magically slipped it on and dropped her arms. The entire model moved precariously and Alex stuck a hand underneath, just in case.

When it stopped swinging he grinned. "Awesome! Thanks Holly!"

Holly wiped her sweaty brow and let out a breath. "That wasn't so bad."

"That's because you were angry at me."

"Huh?"

"Whenever you get angry, your magic seems to get really potent. Remember the eggs?"

Holly felt herself grow warm at the reminder. "That was an accident!"

"Anger's pretty powerful. I wonder why the book didn't mention it."

"It was really old. Maybe they found that bit out later."

"Maybe." Alex hummed, and put a hand on his chin. "Maybe Mum can get more books for us."

The Kanns had taken the knowledge of magic and the Wizarding World fairly well. Or at least, Mr Kann did. Alex's mum had confirmed to them that yes, she was a Squib, Holly was a witch, and a lot of the things in the books were true, but she wouldn't tell them anything else. At least she let them keep the books they had already read.

Holly yawned. "I'm getting something to eat."

"Hey, aren't you going to help me down from here?"

"You climbed up by yourself, but if you think it's... _in-sur-mount-able_ then _maybe_ I'll help when I get back," she said with a smirk as she left the room.

**~•~**

**4 Privet Drive, 15th April 2006**

"How much further?" asked Alex as they crossed Hazel Grove.

"Only one more street." She pulled the sleeves of her new jumper over her hands. "It's on Privet Drive."

Like Magnolia Crescent, all the houses in their suburbia were fairly similar. But while you could generally tell who-lived-where on Crescent, Wisteria Walk and Hazel Grove, Privet Drive was eerily identical. If not for the house numbers and the different flowers—or lack thereof—you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

"Well, here we are," she said when they reached number four.

Alex glanced at the perfectly manicured lawn. "Looks kind of boring to me."

"It is," she agreed, then gave a conspiratorial smirk. "Still wanna see inside?"

"Lead the way."

The door opened on her third try of casting _Alohomora_. She knew Number Four was fairly bog-standard compared to Alex's home, but there was a thrill to exploring the place while the Dursleys were away for Easter.

"Your house is really..." Alex looked around as if he would find something nice to say out of thin air, "clean?"

"Very _articulate_. My aunt loves to clean." _And make me 'help' her._

Alex rubbed his chin with one hand while running the other along the spotless counter. "I see."

Upstairs yielded similar results. Dudley's room was surprisingly tidy while her room was sparse in comparison. If Alex noticed, he didn't say.

"Well, that was dull."

Holly shrugged as they walked out. "You wanted to see. _Colloportus_."

Nothing happened.

She pointed at the lock again, moving her finger in the proper motion. " _Colloportus!_ "

The door slowly sealed itself with an odd squelching noise.

Alex gave a silent round of applause. "It only took you two tries!"

Holly let out a breath. "Yeah. Not bad for four months of practice."

Learning magic was easier now that she had spell diagrams and an actual book to work from. It helped her focus better on what she wanted to happen. Charms were her favourite. Other than making things float and locking and unlocking doors, she'd been able to create fire and mend the secondhand clothes Petunia gave her. It was really useful.

Transfiguration was the opposite. The spells didn't make sense. When would she _ever_ need to turn a matchstick into a needle? And nothing she did stayed for more than a few minutes—if she was lucky. She couldn't understand why it wasn't working. She was following all the rules and tried not to get too upset when the spells didn't work. Maybe she just needed to be older—or have a wand.

"Christmas was—" began Alex.

"Less than four months ago, I know. I was trying to be _succinct_ ," said Holly with a look.

"Alright then. What do you want to do?"

"What do _you_ want to do?"

"Well, there's the park, but mum or dad might want to take us."

"Pass."

"We could play Galactic Civilization? Or Civilization IV?"

"Didn't you already beat both of them?"

"Yeah, but it's still fun."

"But if you've already won once, doesn't it make it a little dull?'

Alex let out a long-suffering sigh that made her regret her gift-giving decision last year. "The games don't work like that. Most games, you can only win one way. In Galactic Civ, the final goal is to rule the galaxy, but you can win in different ways. War is what everyone likes to choose, but you can also win by overpowering other cultures, international relations, or with advanced technology."

"Let me guess...you chose the international stuff?"

Alex nodded. "The second time. I used technology the first time."

"So what's the difference between Galactic Civ and Civ IV?"

"Galactic Civ goes straight into space while Civ goes through history. You have to lead an empire and be the first one to send a colony ship into space. That's how I won."

"And how long did _that_ take?"

Alex waved a hand in a sideways motion. "Oh, maybe two weeks."

_"Weeks?"_

**~•~**

**Kann House, 23rd June 2006**

"No," said Alex, crossing his arms. "Absolutely not."

"Please? It'll be fun!"

"I'm not going to wear nail polish."

Holly scowled. He was being such a baby about this! "That's not fair, we always do what _you_ want to do!"

Alex shifted in his beanbag chair and gave her a look. "Boys _don't_ wear nail polish."

"But it's _summer!_ No one will even see!" she stamped her foot.

"Doesn't matter, 'cause I don't want to."

"It's _clear!_ It'll just look shiny!"

"Nope."

She widened her eyes and pouted. " _Please_?"

"Hey, you aren't supposed to do that!" Alex protested. She widened her eyes more. With that, he pointedly looked at the ceiling.

_Now you know how it feels,_ she thought, continuing to pout. More than once he had gotten his way with this trick. Now she was returning the favour. "Please Al? I saved all my money for _weeks_ to buy it!"

"Don't care."

"I'll be your best friend!"

"You already are."

"That's why you should join! It's no fun if you're by yourself. Just this once. Please?"

Pleading green eyes met wary hazel ones. "If I say yes, will you stop doing that?"

She nodded.

"Fine."

"Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She hugged him tightly. Alex reluctantly patted her back. "Come on, we have to wash our hands."

"Why?" he asked as she pulled him out of the chair.

"So that the polish sticks, silly! Oh! And bring your mum's nail clippers too!"

"I have my own."

Holly gave him a surprised look. Dudley never cut his nails, he bit them off.

"What? Mum showed me how to cut nails on my birthday."

"Even better! We can do our feet too."

"Check this out," Holly said after they had trimmed. She unscrewed the handle of the nail polish and pointed at the bottle. _"Wingardium Leviosa."_

The brush steadily lifted into the air to paint on Alex's big toe.

"I thought you didn't need to say the words," he said with a note of fascination.

Holly shrugged; the brush moved to the next digit. "It's easier with the words. Without them, I have to focus a lot more on what I want to happen."

Chapter three of _Magical Concepts_ clearly said that incantations and wand movements were just tools that helped mould the caster's will.

"Mum calls it the 'placebo effect,'" Alex had said when they read the chapter.

Alex hummed in agreement, snorting when the cold varnish touched his skin. "How many charms can you do?"

"Seven," she said proudly. "Transfiguration is really tricky. I have to get everything right the first try or two and I get really tired after. I know it's because things like to keep their shape and all, but it's so..."

"Frustrating? Vexing? Irritating?"

She snorted. "All of them. I can't _wait_ to get my wand."

"Just thirteen months left to go now."

"Thank Merlin." She swiped her finger downward, painting his big toe with a single gesture.

"How're the Dursleys?"

Holly shrugged. "Dudley's birthday is today. They went out."

"Let me guess, they sent you to Ms Figg?"

"Yeah, but I escaped. Unlocked a few of the cat cages and she was so busy getting them back inside I was able to get away."

Alex eyed his foot with a slight grimace as she swiped one final time. "Bully for you."

"Hold still." She twirled her finger in front of her mouth, chilling her breath in the process as she exhaled. The air went a few degrees cooler for a moment before returning to the ambient temperature. She gently tapped his pinky toe, giving him a happy smile when the varnish proved dry. "And done!"

"Finally. I suppose it's my turn then?" he said, taking the bottle. "Which hand?"

Holly held out her left. He painted with meticulous precision, careful not to get any polish on her skin. It was nice to have someone care about her like this. She'd long ago given up on the Dursleys ever doing so.

She examined the finished hand with approval. "And you didn't want to paint."

"I _don't_ ," Alex said, his face turning red. "It's _girly_. _"_

Holly rolled her eyes. _Boys!_ "Well _I_ don't like playing Civ IV. It's such a _boy_ game."

"You don't?"

"Well, it's not all bad," she amended at Alex's hurt expression. "But you always win."

"Not always!"

He winced at her accusing stare. "Okay, maybe I do win a lot."

"And you always try to show me how to play," she huffed. "It's not that hard."

"You weren't playing right!"

"And you did the diplomacy parts for me!"

"I just think you could have gone about it a different way," he said. "Jumping into battles is not the way to win."

Holly rolled her eyes. "It's a _game_ , Alex. God, it's not the end of the world if I don't win. Not everything has to be perfect, you know."

Alex looked at his less-than-perfectly painted nails and fingered them. He smiled at her. "Yeah, you're right."

"Of course I am," she said, giving him a hug that he happily returned.

**~•~**

**Kann House, 3rd August 2007**

"I still can't believe Dudley got a pig's tail! What did that Hagrid bloke say again?"

Holly gleefully mimicked Hagrid's words and tone. "'He was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do'."

Alex chuckled again. "Wish I could have seen it."

"Yeah, Petunia was _livid_ once she found out I already knew about magic. Vernon passed out."

"Serves them right."

"Yeah," Holly said, frowning.

"What's wrong?"

"Petunia and Vernon knew I had magic."

"They did? For how long?"

"Since I was brought there after my parents were killed. Before that, even. Petunia knew all about Hogwarts. My mum went there too." She scowled. "She knew this whole time and didn't say anything."

The snacks on the counter shook dangerously.

"Well that's not your fault," said Alex, putting a hand on her shoulder. "She's a rancorous woman."

She stared down at her fists. "I know but...they should have told me. I spent years wondering why I was so different, why I could do all these things, why they hated me so much, and it turns out they knew this whole bloody time."

Alex gently patted her back, not saying a word as she embraced him. Holly took deep breaths, trying not to cry. For years she knew that the Dursleys weren't trustworthy and that most of what they said were lies, but she didn't think they'd lie to her about her parents' deaths. She should have known better.

After a few minutes she pulled away. "Thanks."

"No problem."

She sighed. "I don't think they'll take me to the station."

"Don't worry, I'll ask mum and dad."

Holly gave him a weak smile as they gathered their snacks and headed upstairs. "Thanks. Where are your parents anyway?"

Alex brightened as he sat in bed. "Some sort of convention. Dad's been working on this solar battery that's supposed to store loads of power. How it works is that solar panels collect a ton of energy but most people with them can't use all of it. So the battery stores the extra power that can be used later on, like at night or during blackouts. It can hold up a month of energy when it's full."

"So you won't have to pay for power anymore?"

He frowned. "Well, it still costs a lot to get it working. Dad doesn't know if people will want to buy it yet."

"Well, it's still brilliant. Where is he going to sell them?"

"Mostly abroad. The weather here isn't the best for solar."

Holly relaxed on the beanbag as he took out his laptop. "I haven't seen the twins running around. How'd you get them to stay so quiet?"

"That's 'cause I dosed them. Mum keeps a bit of sleep potion hidden away. I put some in their milk," Alex smirked, putting in a CD, "had them out like a light. They'll wake when mum and dad come back."

Holly nodded, thoughtful. Maybe she could do the same to Dudley.

They spent the better part of two hours playing video games—which she was getting better at—and talking about magic. Holly eagerly recounted her trip to Diagon Alley and agreed to bring him her history textbook and her owl. Then the conversation turned to Hogwarts.

"Potions should be really fun to work with, don't you think, with all the unknowns?"

"I thought you were interested in engineering," he said as he gently ran his fingers through her hair, having joined her on the chair.

"Yeah, but it'll take years to make something useful. Potions are more..." she waved a hand casually, unable to find the right word.

Alex hummed.

"Still learning how to braid?" she asked, feeling him lift a section of hair away from the rest.

"Yup."

"Rhea will be happy you're still trying."

His hands moved upwards. "I guess."

Letting the feeling of someone attending to her wash over, Holly thought about how much she was going to miss it. The delicious home-cooked meals, playful banter, the freedom to ask as many questions as she wanted, a place to learn and control her magic...

She hadn't expected anything like this. Alex was the best friend she could have asked for, even if he was a boy. Sure, they had a few rows over stupid stuff, but he was still her best mate. How would he take her leaving? He seemed excited for her, but—

"All done," he said, nudging her from her thoughts. There was an unmistakable note of pride in his voice.

Holly got up from the beanbag chair and admired the braids in front of the wall mirror. Her chest-length hair was divided into six neatly pleated braids, framing her fringe quite nicely.

"It's fantastic," she said as she collapsed back in the chair. "Great work."

"Thanks," he replied, getting up to grab his laptop. "Up for another game?"

Holly looked out the window and saw the darkening sky. "Nah, I should probably get going. Best not to piss off the Dursley's."

"Yeah," he said reluctantly, picking up a book from his bedside table instead and collapsing on the bed.

"Al?"

"Hmm?" He flipped a page.

Holly paused, then voiced a question that had been on her mind for ages. "You know I won't forget about you at Hogwarts, right?"

Alex turned another page more slowly than before, his face unusually blank. "I wouldn't blame you if you did. It's magic."

"So?"

"Mum says that people who grow up..." he paused, _"'Muggle'_ forget their old friends."

"I won't."

He didn't seem convinced and put down his book. "You say that now, but who really knows?"

"I do!"

Alex still looked uncertain.

She sighed. "What will it take to convince you?"

"Well, maybe you could find a way for me to visit?"

Holly smiled. "I think I can manage that." Hogwarts lasted for seven years. There had to be at least one occasion the Muggle-born and raised could have their parents and siblings come to the castle.

**~•~**

**King's Cross Station, 1st September 2007**

As Alex had promised, his parents agreed to drive her to the station on September 1st. There was a bit of a hiccup on getting through the stone wall, but they all made it in one piece. Mr and Mrs Kann were talking to other Muggles while the twins ran around mischievously.

"So, I suppose this is it, huh?" Alex shuffled after he helped her load her trunk into a compartment. Holly nodded slowly, her—Alex's—hat bobbing up and down to hide her scar. She didn't want a repeat of what happened at The Leaky Cauldron with Hagrid. Footsteps sounded everywhere as parents and children hurried around, loading trunks and finding seats.

"I'll miss you," she said, staring at her feet. "What if I don't make any friends?" After all, it had taken weeks _and_ getting beaten up by Dudley to make the only friend she had now.

"Holly," he began, putting his hands on her shoulders, "you'll make friends. And if it ever gets too much, you can always send a letter with Hedwig." He stroked said bird from its place on his shoulder.

Holly met his eyes. "That'll take forever!"

Hedwig hooted almost indignantly before flying off.

Alex smirked and she knew he had something up his sleeve. "Not with this!"

A palm-sized PDA with wooden accents was placed into her hand. It was similar to the ones on TV the Dudley asked for, but clearly better-made.

"Dad and I worked all month to put it together." He beamed. "What do you think?"

She didn't say a word as she admired the hard work. Wood wasn't used much in electronics anymore. To be able to carve a piece to meld so seamlessly with the electronics without damaging either piece was nothing short of amazing. Trying not to burst into tears, Holly hugged him as hard as she could.

"Thank you so much," she said as she pulled away. "You guys are brilliant!"

Alex flushed. "Yes, well, you'll tell me everything?"

Holly laughed, nodding. "Of course." She was still nervous about going to Hogwarts, but she always knew he would be there for her. He looked around as his parents corralled the twins into one place. The train whistle blew.

Their smiles faded.

"Better get on before someone takes your compartment," said Alex as he glanced at a redheaded group of boys rushing into the train.

The truth of the moment finally hit her. She was _leaving_. For _months_. "Yeah." She fingered the hat again.

Alex nodded and let out a breath. "Well, get on then."

"Okay," she nodded back, still hesitant. She wanted to go—this was her parents' world, her birth world—truly, she did, but her nervousness wouldn't go away.

As if he knew what she needed, Alex pulled her into a hug. This was the first time she could remember _him_ hugging _her_ ; he'd never initiated.

"Thanks," she said as they separated.

He smiled, then looked up as steam started to bellow. His face steeled. "You have to go."

Holly nodded, reaching into her pocket and taking out the nine-and-three-quarters ticket Hagrid had given her. "So you can find your way back," she explained as she handed it to him.

Alex nodded, almost pushing her towards one of the entrances. "Thanks, now go!"


	3. Return to Privet Drive

**Return to Privet Drive**

**Kann Residence, 26th June, 2008**

"We won't be able to sell everything we want," said Alex, opening the self-organizing notebook she'd gotten him for Christmas to look at his research. "At least not right away. Dad said there's too many tests to go through and they all cost a lot of money. We have to pick three or four potions that we can work on until we have enough money to test more."

Holly took out her hand-written notes. Since returning from Hogwarts, she and Alex had spent most of their time researching what they would need to do to sell potions. "Here's what I should be able to brew. I added the one from Easter too."

"I don't think antidotes for poisons will work. It's too exotic. I mean, how will we explain unicorn horns? And they'd have to drink it."

"So? Rhea drank it and she was fine."

"Yeah well..." Alex looked uncomfortable. "Rhea's different."

_That's putting it lightly_. She rolled her eyes. "Okay, so no poison antidotes."

"Or anything that needs to be ingested. That would make it medicine and it would take _years_ for them to go through."

"Oh."

He shifted her notes. "Boil cure should be okay, along with dittany. Muggles have similar stuff and they know about the plant, so there shouldn't be any problems."

"Murtlap Essence?" she suggested.

He shook his head. "It comes from a magical sea beast, remember? That'd be a bit hard to explain."

"How about burn-healing paste?"

Alex eyed the paper carefully. "Yeah that should be fine." He checked off three potions. "That should be it for now."

"Will horned slugs be okay to use?" she asked as she took the paper back. "I mean, Muggles would know about porcupine quills, but horned slugs are magical. Won't they be suspicious?"

"Nah, they exist in the non-magical world. Dad's taking care of it, don't worry."

Holly frowned at his cavalier attitude. "Alright."

"Besides, they only have restrictions on the really dangerous plant and animal products, so we should be okay. I'll give these to dad so he can look them over."

Holly wondered how Mr Kann would get away with it. It would probably be alright now, but it wouldn't if they were going to sell more potions. They already couldn't sell Murtlap because it was too magical.

She hoped they knew what they were doing. While it was legal to give Muggle and Squib relatives who knew about magic potions, it was fairly frowned upon, so there wasn't a lot of research on effects done on that end. Selling them would be even harder. The people that would check out their business wouldn't know about magic, and it would be pretty suspicious if she was the only one who could make it work. The only good thing was that the Ministry of Magic didn't seem to be able to monitor potion-making, or else they all would have been in big trouble during Easter.

"Well, alright," said Holly.

"Now, about how much all these will cost to make..."

**~•~**

The Dursleys seemed slightly less unpleasant. Whether that was because she was pleased with the business progress—Mr Kann had approved of their potion choices—spending most of her time away from Privet Drive, her relatives being in a good mood as well or some combination of the three, she didn't know nor wanted to. When she had returned home on the last day of term, Vernon had locked her books, wand, robes, and broomstick in the cupboard under the stairs. With Petunia and Dudley watching with malicious glee he insisted that Privet Drive would be 'magic-free' for the duration of the summer.

Not that that stopped her.

Towards the end of July, the Kanns began preparing for their annual mysterious summer holiday. At this point in their friendship, Alex knew better than to brag and she knew better than to ask. Evidently the twins had been told to keep mum about it as well; they stayed in their room and avoiding looking at her, as if the secret would come spilling out if she locked eyes with either of them. The cool reception still bothered her a bit, but it was miles better than the frantic cleaning going on at the Dursleys.

"Snake fangs ready?"

"Almost..."

"You're grinding it too fine. I need coarse powder, not dust," said Holly in exasperation. He was taking the ingredient prep way too seriously, probably to avoid another kitchen disaster.

"Alright, alright," he said, passing her the mortar and pestle. The doorbell rang and he made his leave.

She added the crushed fangs to the simmering mixture. Increasing the heat, Holly let the potion boil for ten seconds before waving her hand over it and setting a forty-five-minute timer.

"Takeaway arrived," muttered Alex as she entered the sitting room, pushing a bag towards her.

After he went over the Muggle tests the potions would have to undergo, the conversation turned to her wizard friends.

"I have no clue what's happened. Neither's written back to me."

"Hasn't Hermione called you, at least?"

"I didn't give her my number."

"Call _her_ , then."

"Looking it up her landline would take ages. Granger is a common name, you know." She sighed, pushing her bowl away. "I guess I'll just send her and Ron another letter. It's not like I have any other friends."

Alex shook his head. "I still can't believe you aren't more popular."

"Yeah, well, first impressions and all that," she said, remembering her performance in Charms and Transfiguration for the first couple of months.

Worse than the disappointment from Professor McGonagall and Flitwick-who taught her prodigious parents-was the sceptical looks from her classmates, as if she couldn't _really_ be the Girl-Who-Lived if she botched so many spells.

"At least I don't have to worry about people wondering where I'm sneaking off to."

He nodded. "So you don't want to be popular?"

"Not really. Why, do you?"

Alex shrugged. "It makes things easier, I guess."

"Speaking from experience?"

He shrugged again and took out a floss-pick, effectively ending the conversation.

Holly sighed, drumming her fingers on the wooden table. She pointed a finger at her bowl and concentrated. The downside to going from verbal and wanded magic to non-verbal and wandless was that it reduced the potency of the spell, and she had to put in a lot more effort to get the same result.

The most peculiar thing was that magic seemed to work better in certain places than others. At Hogwarts she didn't have to put as much effort for the handful of spells she knew before first year, while at Privet Drive it was a lot harder.

_Hermione's always talking about "magic in the air" around Hogwarts,_ she thought, setting down the bowl. _Maybe that's it. But why?_

"I freaking hate these," Alex muttered once he finished cleaning.

"There's no potion to even out teeth?"

"There's one for repairing cavities, but that's it. Anything more advanced requires a wand." His wide grin revealed his braced teeth and he immediately grabbed his pen and notebook, writing rapidly. "Cavity-repairing potions can be our next big project."

Holly smiled back. It was nice to see him excited rather than serious. "Well, how about you then?"

"Preparing. I don't know for sure when we're going to leave, but it's probably going to be within a few days."

She frowned. "You'll be gone for weeks, won't you?" She didn't even want to _think_ that her only human interactions would be with her relatives.

"We might have a shorter trip this year, because of the business," admitted Alex. "I'll see if I can convince dad to let me talk to you."

"Alright." It was better than the usual radio silence.

Thankfully, the timer went off and they headed back to the kitchen to complete the potion.

"That makes one cauldron's worth of boil-cure!" said Holly as she sealed the last Kilner jar. "That wasn't so bad, now, was it?"

"I suppose not. I still hate cooking though."

"Yeah, only 'cause you're rubbish at it."

Alex rolled his eyes as he put the jars in the designated pantry. "I'll save a couple of these for dad."

"Might as well hold on to most of them, you know how Privet Drive is," she said, closing her potions textbook. "Now about that magical makeup I was talking about..."

**~•~**

As Vernon's dinner meeting drew closer, she had little choice but to deal with the rehearsals Vernon and Petunia insisted on doing every mealtime.

She had also sent two more letters each to Ron and Hermione, but they still hadn't responded. By the time her birthday came, she was frustrated.

_I knew I should have at least gotten Hermione's number,_ she thought, slumping down on the garden bench that morning. "Happy bloody birthday to me."

The Kanns had gotten her gifts, of course. Potion vials, thermometers, notebooks and headphones, various Wizarding and Muggle sweets, and of course, the dreaded puberty-related items that embarrassed her to think about. They were nice and all, but she'd rather spend time with people who cared about her. She stared into the hedge to find two big green eyes staring back.

"What the hell?" she muttered, trying to think of a spell, or anything that would drive back whatever the thing was.

"I know what day it is," sang Dudley, waddling towards her.

The huge eyes blinked and vanished.

"What?" said Holly, not taking her eyes off the spot where they had been.

"I know what day it is," repeated Dudley.

"Oh darn." She snapped her fingers in mock disappointment. "I seem to have lost the bet."

"What bet?"

"That you hadn't learned the days of the week by now. Alex said you did. Now I'm out five quid."

Dudley sputtered. "You still _talk_ to him?"

"Of course. He says hi, by the way," she said, giving him a faux-sweet smile. Alex despised Dudley and his mates even more than she did, and he knew it.

"W-well, today's your _birthday_ ," said Dudley, returning to his original taunt.

Holly nodded. "You seem to have a firm grasp of the obvious."

"Your freak friends didn't send you anything?" he sneered.

"They will," said Holly coolly.

Dudley hitched up his trousers, which were slipping down his fat bottom. He looked at her with a furrowed brow. "Why're you staring at the hedge?"

"I'm trying to decide what would be the best spell to set it on fire."

Dudley stumbled backwards at once, a look of panic on his fat face. "You c-can't—Dad told you you're not to do m-magic—he locked up that stick of yours, and your only _normal_ friend is on holiday—he said he'll chuck you out of the house—"

"Oh?" she said, wiggling her fingers and whispering under her breath. A rotted weed rose in front of Dudley's face. "You mean like this?"

"MUUUUUUM!" howled Dudley, tripping over his feet as he dashed towards the house. "MUM! She's doing you know what!"

* * *

After nearly ten hours, Holly was finally allowed back inside. It was a long day of weeding, mowing, painting, washing and cleaning, and she could feel a slight sunburn forming on the back of her neck. She was given a very light supper—slices of plain bread with a teaspoon of revolting processed cheese spread—which she wolfed down before being sent upstairs. There was just enough time for her to take a shower before being ordered once more to 'make no noise and pretend she wasn't there'.

She Quietened her room and locked the door. The bedroom had been sparsely used until the Kanns had left; now it had been Charmed and Transfigured to the best of her abilities. Wincing at her sore neck, she carefully applied the Burn-Healing paste on the sunburn and waited.

_Sixty-eight seconds,_ she noted when the pain faded. _Better write that down_. Holly went into her wardrobe to retrieve a book when she noticed something there.

"What the—!" Holly pointed her finger at the door.

"Dobby is sorry for startling you, Miss," said the creature.

She took in its appearance as it stepped into the open. "You're a house-elf aren't you?" she asked, remembering one of the few stories that Mrs Kann told of her childhood.

It nodded and she lowered her arm.

"Er—I don't want to be rude or anything, but this isn't a great time for me to have a house-elf in my bedroom."

Aunt Petunia's high, false laugh sounded from the living room. The elf hung his head.

"Not that I'm not pleased to meet you," said Holly quickly, "but, er, is there any particular reason you're here?"

"Oh, yes, Miss," it said. "Dobby has come to tell you, Miss ... it is difficult, Miss ... Dobby wonders where to begin ..."

"Sit down," said Holly politely, pointing at the bed.

To her horror, the elf burst into tears—very noisy tears.

"S-sit down!" he wailed. "Never ... never ever ..."

Holly thought she heard the voices downstairs become quiet. Were her spells not working?

"I'm sorry," she whispered, relaxing slightly when the conversation returned to normal. "Did you want to stand?"

"Dobby has never been asked to sit down by a _witch!_ Like an _equal—"_

Holly, trying to say "Shh!" and look comforting at the same time, ushered Dobby back onto the bed where he sat hiccoughing, looking like a large and very ugly doll. At last he managed to control himself, and sat with his great eyes fixed on her in an expression of watery adoration.

She resisted cringing. Mrs Kann had said house-elves were usually treated like pets. She felt sorry for the poor thing. "So, ah, what did you need?"

"Young Miss is very kind indeed, very kind indeed," Dobby sniffled. "Holly Potter Miss is too kind, too important to risk the danger that awaits at Hogwarts."

Her stomach dropped. "What are you saying?"

"Dobby has come to protect Holly Potter, to warn her, even if he does have to shut his ears in the oven door later...Holly Potter must not go back to Hogwarts."

There was a silence broken only by the chink of knives and forks from downstairs and the distant rumble of Uncle Vernon's voice.

Holly let out a weak chuckle. "W-what? I have to go back. Term starts in a month and I _need_ to be there."

"No, no, no," squeaked Dobby, shaking his head so hard his ears flapped. The odd elf then told her of some plot to bring 'terrible things' to Hogwarts, and that for her safety, she should remain at Privet Drive. She personally thought it was a load of tosh, and said so.

"Dumbledore's at Hogwarts, and he'll protect us from any plot," she said confidently. "I'm going back. I'm a witch, it's where I belong."

Dobby frantically shook his head. "Dumbledore is the greatest Headmaster Dobby's heard of, but Dobby knows...Dobby has seen..." And before she could stop him, Dobby launched off the bed and towards her desk, knocking over her birthday gifts as he hit himself with ear-splitting yelps.

" _Spongify!_ " she cried.

Dobby stared at her, now holding the spongy lamp. He blinked. Then he wailed.

"Oh, don't cry," she said, cringing and staring at the door. The conversation downstairs continued, thankfully, and she reached over to take the Softened lamp from the elf. "Please don't cry."

"Dobby has heard of Holly Potter's kindness, but Dobby has _never_ heard of her _power._ " He looked at her in awe. "Dobby has never seen _any_ wizard perform _wandless_ magic."

"Um, thank you, Dobby. But I'm still going back to Hogwarts. I want to play Quidditch and learn more about potions and see my friends."

"Friends who don't even _write_ to Holly Potter?" said Dobby slyly.

It clicked. The elf had been taking all her letters. "What the hell?"

Dobby took them out of his pillowcase and explained that if she thought that Ron and Hermione had forgotten her, she'd be willing to stay at Privet Drive. That was certainly not that case, and she told him so.

"Hand them over," she said through gritted teeth.

"Holly Potter will have them, Miss, if she gives Dobby her word that she will not return to Hogwarts. Say you won't go back, Miss!"

"I—" she began, then stopped. Dobby had managed to stop all her letters to _and_ from Ron _and_ Hermione over the last four weeks, find out where she was living and entered her room.

She strained her ears to listen downstairs.

The dinner seemed to be going well, not that she cared. But if Dobby got it into his head to ruin it, she'd be blamed. And if the Dursleys were unhappy, she'd be unhappy. That was a certainty.

Holly let out a deep breath. It pained her to say it, but she had no choice.

"Alright. I won't go back."


	4. Heading to the Weasleys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to Chuck, weirdhunterangel, and the DLP Discord for giving this a look. Happy 2021!

**Chapter 2: Heading to the Weasleys**

The dinner had gone extremely well, and that was all Vernon would talk about for the next three days. Holly, on the other hand, was anxious.

Of course, she wasn't _truly_ going to stay at Privet Drive. The idea was madness. If she hadn't lied to the hyper house-elf, she could have been trapped in her room for the rest of summer for all she knew. Holly had convinced the elf that she would need to 'say her goodbyes' to Ron, Hermione and Hagrid, so he said he wouldn't interfere with the rest of her post. She set Hedwig out that very night with apologies, explanations and replies.

Hermione had sent her summer assignment inquiries, already having completed the work. She included her house phone number to call in case something happened to Hedwig. Her thoughts on Herbology and Muggle farming were quite interesting; had Holly received her letters when she was supposed to it would have made a great discussion.

Hagrid had also sent on general updates on Fang, Fluffy and the Forest. Fang was doing well and Hagrid and Dumbledore had sent Fluffy back home to Greece. He had also—indirectly—informed her of what truly happened to Quirrel. The Professors _had_ set up traps to catch another who came after the Stone last year, and Quirrell made it through all but the final one. He had been caught by Dumbledore that same night and arrested by the Ministry of Magic.

Ron's letters were the most interesting. He detailed life in the Burrow, his home, and a written introduction to his sister Ginny, who would be starting Hogwarts in September. He moaned about the summer work and chores he had to do and filled the parchment with tales of flying in sunny Devon playing pick up games of Quidditch with his brothers. He even invited her to stay. A few times, she realized, as she went through the letters.

 _It would be a refreshing change of pace,_ she thought as she penned down her reply. She missed real flying, and winced at the thought of Wood finding out that a Nimbus Two Thousand had been used like a toy broomstick for Muggles. When the Kanns came back and she and Alex had some idea of how the business would work when she went back to Hogwarts, she would accept the invitation.

THUMP.

"Knock it off Dudley!" she shouted.

Vernon had been working more than ever since his promotion. Petunia was out more often, too, gossiping to the neighbourhood ladies about all the new things they would be able to buy with Vernon's increased salary. Dudley had alternated between hanging out with his gang and bothering her. It seemed like today was a 'Holly hunt' day.

THUMP. She could hear whatever Dudley was using to hit her door with roll away.

Scowling, she Softened the door just as the object hit once again. It stretched, making a circular indent on her side as if someone punched through a sheet of rubber before returning to its original shape.

She wasn't bothered again.

**~•~**

**7th August 2008, 4 Privet Drive**

_8:30._ Holly watched the sunset idly as she drummed her fingers on the desk.

Her PDA pinged.

 _"Holly?"_ said Alex. He had a bit more colour than when she last "saw" him. He had on a white vest and was in a fairly secluded area, his back against what appeared to be a rock. She heard water in the distance and several distant voices, including Sam and Rhea's. They sounded cheerful.

She picked up with a smile. "Alex! Where are you?"

 _"At the beach,"_ grinned Alex, his braces glinting in the sunlight. He panned his phone.

"Which one?" It didn't look like any beach she had seen. The sand was grey instead of yellow and the sky was white, not blue. The ocean was also an odd colour—nearly clear rather than blue and the few plants she could see were purple and very dark brown as if it was autumn rather than summer.

Alex tensed, moving a black branch with purple leaves out of sight. _"Uh, nowhere important."_

She rolled her eyes. Did he think she was stupid? "Yeah, pull the other one."

_"I'm serious, Holly. It's just a regular beach. There's some weather problems, you see..."_

"Whatever you say. So when do you think you'll be back?"

_"In less than a week, we should fly back on the twelfth."_

"That's good."

They chatted idly before she brought up Dudley snooping in her room and discovering her potions book.

_"That is pretty weird."_

"Isn't it? But we do need testers for the potions, testers that know about magic...he'd be perfect!"

 _"I don't know if that's a good idea,_ " said Alex.

"Why not? He knows about magic and he's a Muggle. Besides, he's clearly interested in potions."

_"He could snitch to your aunt and uncle and ruin everything."_

She snorted. "Petunia and Vernon still won't hear of magic, and any other adult would think he's barmy."

 _"Well, we do need test subjects,"_ he said, bouncing his knee. _"I guess it'd be alright if we give him Dittany. But you're going to have to sort it out with him."_

"That'll be a piece of cake. Oh, and we need a name for the business, too. Do you have anything?"

_"'Potions for Prosperity'?"_

Holly gave him a look. Was he daft? "Sure! Do you think the Ministry will wait until _after_ we start selling the potions to investigate, or just arrest us right then and there?"

_"Alright, alright, that was a bust. How about 'A Healing Hand'?"_

"Hmm...it's okay I guess, but kind of generic."

_"Picky picky. 'Eternal Elixirs'."_

"That could work. It doesn't stand out too much, it's short, it's alliterative, and it implies longevity, which could be ironic if it doesn't work out."

_"It'll work. I'll make sure of it. So we're agreed?"_

"Yes. We'll need a logo for it."

 _"The Rod of Asclepius, makes the most sense,"_ he said, sounding like he'd had it in mind for quite a while. _"Except we'll reverse the rod to make it look more like a wand. It pays tribute to our magical heritage and it's so common no one will look twice at it."_

"Brilliant."

**~•~**

The Kanns returned on the twelfth, and the preteens quickly resumed their business operation. After a sit-down with Dudley the three of them set up a working arrangement where Dudley would test watered-down potions and send the information to Alex. In return, Holly would pay Dudley and he agreed to leave Holly alone for the rest of her summers at Privet Drive.

With that out of the way, Holly was able to go through her school letter—which, thankfully, had not gone "missing"—and looked over her supply list. The Standard Book of Spells Grade 2 was expected, seven of Gilderoy Lockhart's books weren't. The list was tucked away.

With everything coming together smoothly, Holly mailed Ron her acceptance to his invitation, and they sent a few letters to confirm the details. When the twenty-first came around, Holly decided to bring up her end-of-summer plans to Alex.

"So...I'll be leaving for the last week or so of vacation," Holly said, jittery with excitement as she stirred the Dittany. "On the twenty-third."

Alex nearly dropped a jar of burn-healing paste. "What? Where?"

"Ron's house. He invited me to stay back in July but I didn't see it until earlier this month, and by then you were on holiday. I wanted to make sure we had everything covered before I said yes and since we do, well, I'm off!"

"That...sounds like fun," said Alex, returning to his notes.

Holly glared at him. What could it be _now?_ "Is everything okay?"

He opened his mouth before snapping it shut and nodding. "Yes. I'm happy for you. Enjoy yourself."

"Don't give me that! What's your problem?"

"Nothing's a problem. Didn't I say I'm happy for you?"

"You don't _sound_ it."

Alex shrugged, pointedly staring at his notebook. "It's just...you've always spent the summer between Privet Drive and here."

"Yes, but it's _every_ summer. Nothing's wrong with a change of pace. I mean, I get to stay at wizard's house and all—"

He shot her an irritated look. "Oh, I _see_."

"At least they don't keep secrets from me," Holly snapped, reaching her breaking point with the implied criticism. She had thought they had been over this. "Do you think I'm blind _?_ You're always hiding something!"

"No, we—"

"Oh? Then what really poisoned Rhea during Easter? It's why we started this entire thing, isn't it?"

"I—"

"Why do you have a bunch of locked cabinets?"

"Hol—"

"Secret looks at each other? Why are your siblings avoiding me, even now?"

They stared at each other, flustered tawny-brown eyes meeting penetrating green.

Alex looked away first. "Sorry."

"What about your school? Your friends? You don't tell me any of that stuff. I tell you _everything_." And honestly, it hurt.

"I know. I know." He sighed. "About school...the first term was...well, it could have gone better, to tell you the truth." At her questioning look, he continued, "I wasn't exactly the most popular person there, and I had a bit of trouble making friends."

"Can't imagine why."

"I don't like this any more than you do, Holly, but I haven't got a choice." He looked resentful at this. "Dad has the final say."

"If you can't—or won't—tell me, _fine_ . But don't make a fuss when I get to go on the first _deliberate_ vacation of my life away from Privet Drive. We spent most of the summer together, the business is doing well and you've had _your_ fun. Why should I stay here? Is there _any_ good reason?"

Alex didn't respond, choosing to stare at the floor irritably.

Why didn't he want her to go? She was reminded of the argument that they had a few months ago. Had she listened to him the first time, she wouldn't have gotten detention nor gotten the unicorn tail hair. On the other hand, taking his advice the second time had stopped her, Ron and Hermione from going after Quirrell and whatever traps the Professors set up for them.

There was a clear difference in his behaviour this summer. The perfectionist that had rarely surfaced pre-Hogwarts had come out full-force to look over her work, going over her completed assignments so thoroughly it would give Hermione a run for her money. He had only gotten away with it because Holly could tell he was just as hard on himself, but it was still annoying.

His over-protectiveness had also made a comeback if his reactions over the year were any indication. And it seemed as if something changed within the family, something she was not privy to. But with no one able or willing to inform her exactly _what_ , she hadn't a clue on how to proceed.

"You're right," he finally said, meeting her eyes. "I'm sorry. I hope you have a good time."

She nodded warily. "Thanks."

Neither were satisfied, but Holly accepted his hug nonetheless.

**~•~**

**23rd August 2008, Hazel Grove, Little Whinging**

Holly headed for the blind spot at the corner of Privet and Hazel on the morning of the twenty-third, lugging her trunk and Hedwig's cage behind her while her faithful owl flew ahead. She'd left a note for her relatives, not that she expected them to notice or care. Vernon had contractors every day to see if they could knock down a wall and add another room, and Petunia looked through a catalogue of paint swatches constantly and took to leafing through property magazines in search of that perfect house in Majorca. Dudley insisted his room needed to be painted fire lorry red.

Even though she and Alex were on relatively good terms now, she couldn't help but worry about him. Before Hogwarts, he smiled more and was cheerful, in contrast to her more subdued demeanour. His kindness and expressiveness were what drew them together, and his sense of humour—including those obnoxious, adorable pouts—had grown on her. They were the school loners and bonded over it.

Now he was less friendly and more critical. He didn't joke around as much, and while part of it was due to spending most of their time working and the supposed bullying from last year, another part was due to his refusal to be open with her. In fact, the entire family wasn't. They had always kept to themselves, but now it seemed to be kicked up a notch. She could tell Alex was suffering from it, and that it went against everything he was, but he still did it.

What did they have to hide from her? Were they in a gang? Some government conspiracy? Undercover operation? Witness protection? Holly looked over the PDA Alex had given her. Red and gold-toned with Internet access, video and audio calls, practically unlimited storage and highly durable. This technology was at least a decade in the future, yet they had it made in a matter of weeks. It never died and she never had to charge it. In fact, there was no battery or signal strength icon. How had she not noticed that?

 _Explains why Alex said things went over my head at times_ , she thought, raising her wand for the Knight Bus.

* * *

"There you are—are you alright, dear?" said the plump redheaded woman that answered the door. "You're looking peaky."

"Never better," she said, trying to keep herself from spewing. The woman, introducing herself as Ron's mother, Molly, fussed over her, bringing her inside the house.

"I _knew_ that Knight Bus was an _awful_ idea! Come in, come in! You can set your bag in front of the door dear. We've just begun breakfast," she said, guiding her to the kitchen table. Ron, Fred, George and Percy were already eating.

"Holly! You made it!" Ron said cheerfully, pulling out the seat next to him.

Holly gave an uneasy grin as she sat. "Hey, Ron. Happy to be here. I just need a moment...the Knight Bus wasn't exactly the smoothest ride." The entire trip was a nightmare. When Mrs Kann had told her about it, she assumed with was just a "normal" flying bus, like from _The Magic School Bus_. Nope. It was a triple-decker, jerking, banging monstrosity.

Fred and George looked at each other and then at her.

"You've ridden—" said Twin one.

"—The Knight Bus?" said Twin two.

Holly nodded.

"Wicked!" they said in unison.

"What was it like?" asked One.

"Bumpy," she said, accepting a glass of water from Mrs Weasley.

"Is it true—"

"Leave her alone, can't you see she's ill? Give her some space," Percy said as he buttered his toast.

"Thank you, Percy," said Mrs Weasley as she put down the pitcher. "I'm happy someone is being thoughtful."

The twins mocked Percy when she turned to plate up some bacon.

"Thank you, Prefect Percy."

"Yes, thank you."

Ron nudged her, rolling his eyes at his brothers. "Barking, aren't they?"

Holly let out a weak chuckle, the prospect of food easing her stomach. Mrs Weasley added more bacon to her plate and she smirked when Ron got told off for stealing her sausages. She was introduced to the rest of the family as they arrived—Ron's father, who had an odd fascination with Muggles, and Ginny, who alternated between looking starry-eyed and timid when she told her that Ron told her all about her.

After breakfast Ginny was tasked with showing her where she would stay. The trip upstairs was awkward, to say the least. Ginny refused to look at her and rushed into her room, no doubt tidying it up before allowing her to enter. The room itself was pretty standard, painted a pale green with several suspiciously light patches where something formerly hung. She awkwardly set her old bag from primary down in a corner while Ginny closed her wardrobe door and darted out the room.

 _Hope she gets over it soon._ She removed her Shrunken owl cage and trunk. For an additional five Knuts the bus conductor was willing to shrink them, which was a good thing too, considering the ride.

" _Finite Incantatem_ ," she waved her wand, feeling the rush of power as her things returned to full size. She tucked her wand away and headed back downstairs. It was easy to sneak out past the kitchen and find the boys flinging the gnomes into the air.

"Still working?" asked Holly after she crossed the lawn.

"Yeah, but I reckon we're almost done," Ron said, lifting a gnome. He held it at arm's length as it kicked out at him with its horny little feet; he grasped it around the ankles and turned it upside-down. "This is what you have to do," he said. He raised the gnome above his head—"Gerroff me!" it shouted—and started to swing it in great circles like a lasso.

"Don't worry, it doesn't hurt them," he added, throwing it twenty feet in the air. "Give it a go."

She only managed a few feet, but it was fun trying.

**~•~**

Over the next few days, Holly quickly settled into the daily routine at the Burrow. Wake up, eat breakfast, do chores, have lunch, play Quidditch, play chess or sleep, have dinner, practice magic and sleep. It was much more relaxing than at Privet Drive, where she'd have to worry about nosey neighbours, Dudley bothering her, and Petunia and Vernon giving her suspicious looks. It was even better than Alex's house, something she once didn't think possible.

She put down her glass of chilled pumpkin juice and turned her gaze away from the thick trees surrounding the Weasley paddock. Flying above, Ron, Fred and George playing Beaters vs Keeper. The twins were nearly as vicious here as they were on the pitch, but Ron was still able to block about half the shots coming his way.

"Nice save Ron!" she called when he stopped eight successive apples.

One of the twins flew next to the other and shouted something to Ron, who then proceeded to miss several saves in a row. Odd.

It didn't take much longer for Ron to fly down on her Nimbus, his face bright red. He chugged two glasses of juice before offering to switch.

Holly shook her head. "I'm rubbish at Keeper and even worse at Beater. You can still beat them you know."

Unfortunately for her, it was one of those rare times that Ron noticed something was off. "You alright?"

She sighed, running her hand through the grass. "Just trying to figure something out."

Ron looked uncomfortable. "This isn't a girl thing, is it?"

"No, no," she reassured him. "You know I live with Muggles?"

Ron nodded.

"Well, Muggle children start school at four, not eleven, and I had a friend that was, well, wondering where I went this year. We had a fight about it."

"You didn't tell her, did you? About magic?"

Holly shook her head, partly because Alex already knew and partly because she didn't want Ron to know. "No. We spent the summer together though, but he"—Ron tensed—"didn't like the fact I wanted to 'visit a friend' for the rest of summer."

" _He?_ Your friend is a _boy_?"

"Yes." Holly rose an eyebrow. "Is that a problem? You're a boy, aren't you?"

"No, it's fine," Ron said, trying to seem unbothered as he sat on the blanket next to her. "So he wanted you to stay?"

"Yes. He thinks I'm at an old-fashioned boarding school, but I couldn't explain why I couldn't keep in touch. It's not as if I could send him letters, either," she lied.

Ron frowned. "You aren't going to tell him about magic, are you? The Statute doesn't allow it."

She knew all about the Statute, of course, but shook her head anyway. "No, I won't tell. But I haven't a clue about what I'm supposed to do. Can a witch be friends with a Muggle? One that they grew up with?" _Especially if the Muggle already knows_ , she wanted to add.

"I dunno. Haven't thought about it, really. Most Muggle-born don't mention it. Hermione hasn't."

That was true. Neither had asked her about her pre-Hogwarts life. To be fair, Holly hadn't been open either. She mentioned neither the Dursleys nor the Kanns, whom, now that she thought about it, had once important thing in common—they had both at one time lied to her. _Still_ lying to her, she was certain.

Holly let out a deep breath. "So you think it's a bad idea then? Staying friends with him?"

"I dunno. I reckon you know him better than I do. Dad says it's hard for our kind to be friends with Muggles because they aren't allowed to know about magic or they'll get Obliviated. That's why most who grow up Muggle cut them off sooner or later."

She wasn't pleased, but it made sense.

"Right. Thanks Ron."

"You're welcome."

**~•~**

"Mr Weasley," began Holly during pudding the next night, "would I get into trouble giving potions to my cousin?" She'd done some research, but it couldn't hurt to get information from a trusted source.

"Giving potions?" The redheaded patriarch shook his head. "Generally, no. Cousins fall under the Family and Marriage clause of the Statute...first cousins, correct?"

She nodded.

"Then you should be fine, as long as he knows to keep it under wraps," he said, taking a bite of his sponge cake. "You wouldn't believe how much legwork the Ministry has to do when one relative tells another. Statute violations all over the place."

Percy set his glass of water down importantly. "As the British Youth Representative to the Wizengamot, I have to say that that's not entirely complete information. _Making_ potions at a Muggle home would be a problem, given you're underage and haven't completed your OWLs. It violates the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, you see. Now, once you've gotten an A or better on your Potions OWL you can brew at home, so long as no unrelated Muggles find out."

Holly nodded, knowing full well she would continue to break that law.

Fred and George exchanged a look. "And what about in our very own home, dear brother?"

Percy huffed. "The law applies to wizard and Muggle-born and raised just the same."

"Not to Bill," muttered one of the twins.

"Have you gotten the chance to go to Diagon Alley yet Holly?" asked Mr Weasley.

Her eyes widened. She had completely forgotten!

"Not to worry, we have a bit of time left. We can go tomorrow. It's actually better this way. There will be fewer people milling about, and we'll be in and out in no time at all!"

Holly nodded. It sounded good to her—the fewer people to notice her buying potions stuff the better.

"That works splendidly for me, I do need to stock up on quills," said Percy before he sipped the last of his water.

Fred (or George) whispered to his twin, who snorted.

"Can I come along too?" asked Ron.

"Well, I don't see why not, so long as you stay out of trouble. You can help Holly get all her things, especially all those Lockhart books," said Mrs Weasley as she collected the plates with a wave of her wand.

Ron looked like he bit something bitter, but nodded.

**~•~**

**Diagon Alley, 28th August 2008**

Holly inhaled and exhaled deeply, taking in the feeling. She smiled. It had been over a year since she'd been to the Alley, and with the delays between getting her letter and Hagrid retrieving the Stone, she hadn't had the time to really enjoy it.

"Hurry along, we haven't got all day!" called Mrs Weasley, ushering them along, away from Gringotts.

She sighed. Well, maybe next year.

"Now, I'll go to buy more Floo powder while Percy will escort you to all the shops." Mrs Weasley tapped her wrist, looking nervous. "I don't like leaving the twins at home by themselves longer than I have to, especially with Ginny."

Percy looked exasperated. "They will be fine. You've left me home alone when I was younger than them."

"It's not their age I'm worried about..."

"I'll escort Ron and Holly to all the shops. It shouldn't take long," said Percy.

"Be back here in one hour, do you understand?"

The three of them chorused varying forms of yes before she departed. The second she was out of view Percy turned to them and frowned.

"What?" asked Ron.

After glancing at the direction their mother had gone, Percy began, "Alright listen to me. I have to go somewhere. Mum can't know about it."

Ron's eyes widened. "You're joking!"

"Is it for your British Youth thing?" asked Holly.

He flushed, shaking his head. "We only meet every other Monday. Now the both of you know the way around so there shouldn't be any trouble getting your supplies, correct?"

"Er—”

"No," said Ron quickly.

"Good," said Percy stiffly. Then, with a bit of reluctance, he reached into his pocket and pulled out six Sickles, giving three to each of them. "Meet back here within an hour's time and remember, don't tell Mum."

They nodded and Percy walked off.

"What was that about?"

Ron stuffed the coins in his pocket. "Who cares? Let's get your things before Mum gets back. Where do you want to go first?"

Forty-five minutes later, Ron shoved the last of the textbooks into the new pewter cauldron. "I still don't know why you wanted to buy another one of these."

Holly shrugged, not wanting to explain. "I can carry it the rest of the way."

"I reckon we're almost done. What's left?"

She took out the list as they left Flourish and Blotts. "Just some ink and parchment. Oh, and we should get something for Hermione's—"

"Well, if it isn't Scarhead and Weasel," drawled a voice neither of them wanted to hear.

"Malfoy, Parkinson," snarled Ron as the two Slytherins came up to them, wearing their usual sneers.

"What do you want?" asked Holly, eyeing them with distrust.

"We wanted to congratulate you," said Parkinson, looking at them with cruel glee. "It's not every day one sees a pure-blood trailing pathetically after a half-blood."

"Tell us, Weasley, how much is she paying you to lug that cauldron around for her? A Galleon? Ten Sickles?"

Ron looked at Malfoy as if he were something unpleasant on the sole of his shoe. "I don't charge my friends."

Malfoy returned the look. "Just when you think a family couldn't sink any lower. Though I suppose being Potter's errand boy is the best you can hope for. At least she's rich enough to properly clothe you—and do get on with that, Potter."

Ron flushed angrily and Holly rolled her eyes, pulling him by the elbow. "Nobody asked you, Malfoy. Let's go Ron."

Parkinson gasped, looking between the two. "I think you were wrong Draco. It seems like Potter's gotten herself a _boyfriend!_ "

 _What!?_ The cauldron fell with a loud clang and Holly felt her cheeks grow warm. 

Malfoy gave them a nasty grin. "Well-spotted, Parkinson! I shouldn't be surprised, though, Father says Potters have a type—"

"And so do Malfoys, apparently," said Holly quickly. "Tell me, _Pansy_ , when was the marriage contract between you and _Draco_ signed?"

Parkinson paled and Malfoy lost his arrogant look.

"What—"

"It was easy to figure out, seeing as you two have been attached at the hip since before the Sorting. It's so... _sweet_ , isn't it Ron? Knowing who you'll marry ahead of time?"

He looked between them in confusion. "Er, yeah."

"Let's go Draco," said Parkinson, giving her a dirty look as she pulled said boy away.

"Send us an invitation to the wedding, yeah?" called Ron as they left.

Malfoy looked back to sneer at Ron. "In your dreams, Weasley."

Holly smirked once they turned a corner. "Brilliant touch, Ron."

He reddened. "Thanks. How'd you know they were betrothed?"

"I didn't."

They burst into laughter before crouching to pick up the fallen books.

"What's this?" asked Ron, holding up a slightly worn black book with a leather cover. He opened it up. "It's completely empty."

Holly shrugged. "Maybe it's one pair of a set of two-way journals."

"Hmm." Ron closed the book. "Can I..."

"Go ahead," she said, putting a mail-order catalogue in and heaving the cauldron up. "Looks like we're out of time. We'll have to owl-order something for Hermione."

"What? Why?"

"Her birthday's coming up, Ron."

"You never got me anything for my birthday," said Ron as they made their way to the rendezvous point.

"Well, you didn't tell me until the day of and by then it was too late."

Ron muttered something under his breath before they spotted Percy, who was trying to fix his ruffled hair and clothes.

"What happened to you?" asked Ron.

The older boy flushed. "Never you mind. Mum's waiting for us, come on."


	5. Back at Hogwarts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to Chuck for looking this over.

"How come you weren't on the train?" asked Fay Dunbar, one of the quieter girls in her dorm after the Feast. She had a long-running ambition of becoming an Auror and a love for Quidditch that rivalled Ron's.

"Oh, the barrier closed on Ron and me, so his parents us Flooed to Hogsmeade and we spent a few hours there," said Holly, slipping on her nightgown.

She had had a suspicion that Dobby was responsible for them not catching the train and blocked the barrier somehow. Luckily Ron had been a good sport about it.

"That's—"

"You spent the day with _Ron Weasley?_ " interrupted Parvati, flabbergasted. "What was it like?"

"Okay, I guess. Hogsmeade was pretty cool. It was nice to see the village early, but it was only for a couple of hours."

"Where'd you go?" asked Lavender. "I heard that Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop is the best place for romance."

Holly laughed in disbelief. "Romance?"

"All the older girls talk about it," said Parvati, her voice taking on a dreamy quantity. "It's decorated so nicely, covered in bows and little hearts."

Holly struggled to keep her face neutral. "Sounds like...quite the place. But Ron and I didn't go there, of course."

"Obviously!"

Lavender nodded so quickly it looked like her head was going to fall off. "That's only for _proper_ dates, of course, when we're in our third year and can go with the older boys. It'll be so much fun!"

"Proper dates?" echoed Holly. They were only twelve!

"Yes, of course," Parvati nodded eagerly. "Not that Weasley is a bad sort, but your _real_ first date should be with someone..."

"Cooler," Lavender gushed. "And fanciable. Oh, and handsome!"

"Like Lockhart!" Parvati beamed. "Oh, Holly, have you read the books?"

"Forget the books, have you seen him on the cover of _Witch Weekly?_ That smile of his...what does he do to make it so bright?"

"I can't wait for tomorrow!"

Holly snuck a look at Hermione to gauge her opinion, but she was reading one of their Lockhart textbooks intently, nodding along. Across the room, Fay was doing the same on her bed, her brows furrowed with scepticism. Sally-Anne laid next to her, pointing at what looked to be a picture rather keenly.

She didn't have any real opinions about Lockhart, having never met him. Ron and the twins had and they weren't impressed. They'd seen him earlier in the summer at Flourish and Blotts signing their very expensive textbooks and 'acting like a ponce'—Ron's words. Percy didn't care for him much, but insisted that they give him respect as a teacher, and Ginny had been so quiet it was hard to tell what the girl thought.

Still, Holly was willing to give Lockhart the benefit of the doubt. After all, she and Alex didn't exactly hit it off at first blush; now they were more-or-less bosom buddies.

Yawning, she climbed into bed, pulling her four-poster closed. She'd just have to wait and see.

* * *

"You're still working on that?" asked Ron as he scribbled something down for his Herbology essay that Friday.

She nodded. "The sooner I get it, the better my essay will be." _And the faster I'll re-adapt to wanded magic._ Transfiguration had been terrible that week and McGonagall was keeping a close eye on her.

Ron dipped his quill in his inkpot and scowled. "I'm out of ink."

Holly wordlessly passed him a fountain pen.

"Thanks," he muttered.

"Were you able to fix your wand?"

Said wand was falling apart; Ron had bound it together with some borrowed Spellotape, but it didn't seem to help. It kept crackling and sparking at odd moments, and when he tried to cast spells it had begun to smoke.

Ron shook his head dejectedly. "It's too old."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It has to be, wands last a really long time and Mum got it from her side of the family for Charlie. I reckon I just have to work with it."

Holly frowned and went back to practising, muttering the incantation and tapping her beetle. "Finally."

"At least you were able to do it," said Ron as he eyed the perfect coat button.

"Thank Merlin." She took out her parchment and pen. A thought came to her. "Hey, do you know anyone who's good at drawing?"

"Dean is. He's always putting up these 'sketches' on his side of the room. Why?"

Holly shrugged, knowing full well she couldn't tell him that she and Alex needed someone to design the Eternal Elixirs logo. "Just wondering."

They returned to their work.

"Why's that firstie staring at you?" whispered Ron when he finished, giving someone to their left a suspicious glance.

Looking up, she saw the very small, mousy-haired boy from the Sorting gape at her as if transfixed. She rose an eyebrow at him and the boy went bright red.

Holly turned back to Ron. "No clue."

He gave the firstie a rare considering look. "Strange."

"Almost as strange as your sister."

"Oi!"

"Um, hello," a voice said. The boy seemed to have gained a bit of courage and had walked up to them, standing a few feet away.

"Hi."

"I-I'm Colin Creevey. D'you think—would it be all right if—can I record you?" he said, raising the camcorder hopefully.

"A video? Of me?"

"So I can prove I've met you," said Colin Creevey eagerly, edging further forward. "I know all about you. Everyone's told me. About how you survived when You-Know-Who tried to kill you and how he disappeared and everything and how you've still got a lightning scar on your forehead." His eyes raked her hairline and Holly fought the urge to pat down her fringe.

Ron and Holly shared a glance.

Colin drew a great shuddering breath of excitement and said, "It's amazing here, isn't it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad's a milkman, he couldn't believe it either. So I'm recording everything to send home to him and my mum. And it'd be really good if I had a video of you." He looked imploringly at Holly.

Her gut instinct was to say no. She still wasn't used to having people fawn over her, and Ginny and Colin were two people too many. But beneath the obvious excitement in Colin's stance was a fear of rejection that Holly knew all too well. Ron made to speak but Holly beat him to it. "I don't mind."

"Holly!" hissed Ron.

"Deal! I'll go get my tripod!"

Before either of them could respond, Colin ran up to the boys' dorm.

"What's a video?" asked Ron.

"It's," she thought for a moment, "it's like a wizarding photo. Only it has sound. And it goes on for longer than a few seconds."

"Why'd you say yes?"

It was a fair question. "Hermione," she said. "He reminds me of Hermione."

Ron reddened, no doubt remembering his actions last year that lead to the troll incident.

"We were both rude to her. I don't want to do that again."

Colin returned, carrying a metal frame in his hands with a wide grin. "Do you know what you're going to say?"

"We'll surprise you, right Ron?" she said, tapping his shoulder.

"Okay," he sighed as if prepared for the worst.

Colin finished setting up. "Action!"

**~•~**

Holly wrapped a spare towel around her hair and left the bathroom.

"Holly," called Fay, who had stopped talking to Sally-Anne, "is Ron alright?"

"More or less."

Sally-Anne wrinkled her nose. "Isn't he still vomiting slugs?"

Holly winced. Word had travelled fast. "He's doing a lot better now." By the time they'd left Hagrid's Ron was hiccoughing occasionally, but only bringing up two very small slugs.

"Malfoy buying his way on through…" Fay shook her head in disbelief. "Slytherin must be desperate to win this year. The Nimbus Two-Thousand and One isn't the best broom on the market for nothing. Did you know its top speed is one hundred and fifteen miles per hour?"

Holly didn't. Her Nimbus only went ninety. "The player is more important than the broom," she said, quoting Oliver. "Besides, we won last year, I'm sure we can win again."

Fay looked doubtful but dropped the subject, returning to her conversation with Sally-Anne.

She dressed and climbed into bed, pulled her Silenced curtains shut and called Alex.

" _Hey Holly,"_ said her friend, who sounded to be in much better spirits than their last encounter. " _How's Hogwarts?"_

She recounted everything that had happened during the past week, from Lockhart's awful teaching to Colin's odd fascination with her.

"Hopefully the video of Ron and I—"

 _"Ron and me,"_ corrected Alex.

"Will be enough."

_"I don't think it will. He'll probably ask again."_

Holly crinkled her face at the thought. Colin had already greeted her five times today, looking as if all his dreams come true each time she replied. "I hope not."

 _"What about the logo?"_ asked Alex.

"I'll ask Dean about it tomorrow." Holly yawned. "Sorry, it's been a long day. Oliver had us on the pitch for nearly three hours before Slytherin came, and we were at Hagrid's till lunch."

Alex was silent for a moment. " _I can't believe Malfoy would say that to Hermione."_

"I can. Malfoy's always been a spoiled little git. I just wish I did a bit of..." she wiggled her fingers on her right hand.

" _And I don't suppose he'll get in trouble?"_

She snorted. "After buying new brooms for the Slytherin team? Not a chance. Snape was pissed we won last year, he's not going to punish his golden boy."

" _Figures."_

"I swear, he's worse than Mrs Armstrong. He hates me for no reason."

" _I thought she hated you because you turned her wig blue."_

Holly smirked at the memory. "That was an accident."

"Right."

"Hey, she hated me from day one. It was bound to happen sooner or later."

Alex hummed.

"How's everything with you?" she asked.

" _Pretty good. Oh, and I found a print shop that can make copies of the logo once Dean draws it. It'll cost less than Diagon Alley and we won't get any hard questions."_ She heard him click a few keys. _"Check the link."_

She eyed her screen sceptically. "This better not be another Rick-Roll."

 _"Of course not."_ Alex scoffed. _"And I can't believe you think that I'd do something so juvenile. Again."_

_"~We're no strangers to love..."_

"ALEX!"

His laughter filled the air, mixing with the dance-pop melody.

"Yeah, yeah, you've had your fun," said Holly with a scowl, turning off the song. Then she grinned. "Now _brace_ yourself..."

" _Because that never gets old,"_ muttered Alex.

"For this news! I found a spot where I can brew potions without anyone getting suspicious. Percy told me about the potions lab at the basement of the Tower that no one uses. It'll be perfect."

" _Really? That's great."_

"Yeah, I can't wait to get started. But how is it going to work? Hedwig can carry a lot and she'd appreciate the workout, but it would get suspicious if she makes constant trips."

" _You're right. I—"_

" _ALEXANDER!"_

Alex groaned. " _Dad's calling me. We'll talk later, alright?"_

"Alright. Bye."

**~•~**

The next week passed in a haze of classes, potion-making and Quidditch practice. Holly had hoped Hermione would see that Lockhart wasn't as great as his books made him seem, but she was stubbornly steadfast, even after the Cornish pixies incident. It sparked an argument in the dorm between Fay, who felt Lockhart wasn't giving them the best Defence education, and Hermione who wanted her to give him the benefit of the doubt. Lavender and Parvati had agreed with Hermione, much to her dismay, while Sally-Anne backed Fay. Holly opted to remain neutral, which had both sides feeling betrayed.

Tensions in the dorm were high as a result, and Holly hoped that the birthday party she and Ron set up for Hermione would ease things over. Their usual corner was decorated with ribbons and the non-explodable luminous balloons she bought from Hogsmeade and last year's Christmas crackers.

"Do you know any wrapping spells?" asked Holly as they waited for Hermione to come back from the library.

Ron yawned and raised his wand. "My mum uses this one. It's nothing fancy, but I reckon it should work."

"Maybe I should cast the spell," she said, eying the sparking wand dubiously.

Frowning, Ron put his wand away. "The spell is _hoc donum involvent._ "

" _Hoc donum involvent!"_ she repeated, pointing at the present she bought at Hogsmeade. Simple red wrapping paper covered the book, held in place with a golden bow.

"Do you know when she'll be back?" asked Ron as she cast the spell on the packet of Toothflossing Stringmints.

Holly shook her head. "We haven't been talking much over the last few days. She's still angry I didn't defend Lockhart."

"When will she realize she's wrong about that fraud?" said Ron with a scoff. "He bungled up catching Cornish pixies; my mum can do _that_!"

She shrugged.

"No wonder she spends so much time in the library. Books don't argue back and she can fawn over Lockhart in her little corner."

Holly frowned, caught off-guard with the redhead's criticism. "What's with you all of a sudden?"

Something flashed in Ron's blue eyes. "Er, what do you mean?"

She contemplated explaining herself, but she wasn't looking forward to fighting with three of her friends in the span of two months. "Nothing," Holly finally said.

Ignoring the awkward silence, she looked over the Common Room. Colin was currently engrossed in the Weasley twins' salamander firework project, giving her a reprieve from constant questions and fawning.

"I'll be right back," she said to Ron after spotting Dean. She hadn't gotten around to talking to him about her project, after all.

Making her way through the room—which was now in a frenzy due to the whizzing, whirling salamander and the yelling Weasleys—she sat down next to the black-haired boy.

"Hey Dean."

He looked up at her with red-tinged eyes, stuffing a piece of paper in his robes. "Oh, hi Potter."

"What's wrong?"

Dean was silent, choosing to stare at the salamander that was running towards the fireplace.

"Dean?" she asked again.

"It's my da. He's in the fire brigade and he got burned really badly putting out a fire."

She winced. "I'm sorry."

He sighed. "Thanks. So what did you want?"

"Ron was telling me that you're good at drawing?"

"Yeah, why?"

Holly quickly explained 'her' idea of the Rod of Asclepius, only with said rod replaced with a wand shooting off multi-coloured sparks. Dean seemed interested, and before long they had settled on how the final product would look.

"Ten Sickles, before Christmas," said Dean. "I can do that."

"Great." She paused, then said, "You know, burn-healing paste might work for your dad."

Dean perked up. "Really?"

"Yeah, I think Pomfrey used some for Neville last week after he burned his hand."

"But Neville's a wizard. Are you sure it's alright for my dad to be using it?"

"Yeah, a lot of potions are safe for Muggles, and your dad already knows about magic. As long as your family keeps it quiet there's no reason why he can't use them."

He still looked conflicted, so she added, "I can make some for you if you'd like."

Dean looked uncomfortable. "Er, no offence Potter, but you and Ron aren't exactly the best in Potions."

Holly rolled her eyes. "Because Snape is a fair teacher? Look, I was only making a suggestion. Nab some off Pomfrey if you'd like." She looked at the portrait hole to see Hermione emerging, and made her leave to rejoin Ron.

**~•~**

September drifted into October, and with it came heavy rain and an increase in Quidditch practices at Oliver's behest. By late October they were practising every Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning or night for three hours each, leaving her little time to do anything else.

Fred and George, who had been spying on the Slytherin team, had seen for themselves the speed of the new Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones. They reported that the Slytherin team was no more than seven greenish blurs, shooting through the air like missiles.

Holly entered the Common Room just before curfew after that Friday's practice, pulling her still-damp hair away from her cheeks. She spotted Ron and Hermione over in their usual corner surrounded by textbooks and parchment.

She sighed. _Might as well see what_ this _argument is about. Hopefully I won't have to pick sides._

"Owl your mum, then," Hermione was saying as Holly sat down.

"Are you mad? She'd say that it's not so bad and that I'm overreacting." Ron looked warily at his Spell-o-taped wand. He had added another piece of tape to cover the exposed unicorn core.

Hermione harrumphed. "Well, you aren't going to pass if you don't sort that wand out."

"I know that! Merlin Hermione, you've said it about a thousand times! You don't have to keep reminding me!"

"I'm only trying to help! The way you keep going on about how your wand's not working, I thought you'd like some suggestions!"

"Well I can't bloody well _use_ any of those suggestions, so how much help are they?"

"Ron," Holly said, interrupting the fight. "How about I help you out? I have some Galleons leftover and—"

"I can't use your money!"

Hermione beamed. "That's a great idea, Holly! We could talk to McGonagall and—"

"No!" Ron shouted, causing her and Hermione to stare at him in confusion. Colour suffused to his face and he shoved his wand up his sleeve. "I'll owl my dad about it, he'll sort it out, alright?" Before they could say another word, he gathered his books and disappeared up to the boy's dorm.

Hermione scoffed. "Well. There was no need to snap at us."

Holly raised an eyebrow. Ron had never come out and said it to either of them, but surely she noticed the hand-me-down clothes and worn shoes? She seemed about as clueless as Alex was when he innocently asked why her secondhand dress looked so old all those years ago. Not wanting to bring it up if Hermione hadn't discerned it by now, she said, "Yeah, I guess."

"Well, there's nothing for it. If he wants to fail, then he can fail."

"He does well enough on the essays and tests," she said in his defence.

"That's not enough," said Hermione, shaking her head. "Wandwork means just as much, if not more, to our marks. That's why Neville has such low marks in our wanded classes."

 _And you_ , Holly knew Hermione wanted to say. Last year, Holly had had a bad habit of overpowering her spells. The same amount of power that would gently lift an object wandlessly, sent it careening into the ceiling with it. Whether it was because of the magic of Hogwarts or the wandless magic she had gotten used to before, she had no clue. It wasn't until mid-October that she was able to fine-tune how much focus she put into her spells. It wasn't something she enjoyed talking about, especially since it partly contributed to the troll incident.

"I'll talk to him tomorrow," said Holly. "I'm sure he'll be more willing to listen then."

Hermione looked doubtful but agreed.

* * *

"Hey Ron," said Holly as she sat next to him. Oliver had kept them so long she missed breakfast and nearly missed lunch—and the opportunity to speak with Ron.

He ignored her, opting to chew his sandwich furiously.

"We're sorry for bringing up...well, you know. We weren't thinking."

He swallowed before saying, "That's a first."

Holly ignored the slight. "I came up with another plan. Remember our first Quidditch practice?"

Ron glared at her, no doubt recalling how it ended for him. "Yeah?"

"Your wand worked then, didn't it? You cast a spell without the incantation!"

"Yeah, it worked, up until I was the one spewing up slugs instead of Malfoy."

"That's because you were angry."

"Can't imagine why?" muttered Ron under his breath.

"What I'm saying is that your spell got overpowered somehow. Probably because you're frustrated using it."

"Of course I'm bloody frustrated! The hair's sticking out and I can't—" he stopped himself, stabbing a slice of roast beef with a fork.

Knowing she was standing on thin ice she carefully continued, "Have you tried to do the spells without saying the words?"

Ron frowned. "That's what they do after OWLs. Percy's working on it now, I reckon."

"But you can do it though, you've already done it!"

Ron flushed. "That doesn't mean I can do it all the time. Even the sixth and seventh years have trouble with it."

"You could at least try, since you don't want us to help or talk to your folks." When he still looked reluctant, she added, "What if they hold you back a year?"

Ron looked worried now. "Well...I guess it wouldn't hurt. But who do we ask? Percy'd tell us to bugger off and the teachers won't take us seriously."

Holly looked around the Hall. There were very few people left, none of whom were paying any attention to her and Ron.

"Well...I might know a spell or two," she admitted.

"Seriously? Wicked!"

"Shh! I don't want the whole world to know!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Ron said, still looking at her in awe. "How'd you learn how to do it?"

Memories of practising spells in the smallest bedroom, staying as quiet as possible with her spell cheat sheets hidden close to her chest flashed. "Oh, just practice and all that."

"Can you do one?"

Holly grinned, taking out her wand. "Sure. I can do the Levitation Charm and the matchstick-to-needle transfiguration." _Among others._

With his agreement, she aimed at a roast beef platter. _Wingardium Leviosa_ , she said in her head as firmly as possible. The platter lifted, hovering right at Ron's nose.

"Your lips didn't even _twitch!_ " He said when the platter returned to its' original place. "Even Charlie has trouble with that."

Holly felt warm from all the praise. "It's a first-year spell." She flicked her wrist and allowed her wand to glow.

Ron shook his head in amazement. "Well, first-year spell or not, that was bloody brilliant."

"Still want to learn?

"'Course!"

"It won't be easy," she warned.

"Anything's better than what's been going on so far. When do we start?"

Holly smiled at his enthusiasm. "How about today? There's a few classrooms near the Tower that no one uses that'll be perfect."

* * *

"Alright, let's start with the matchstick to needle transfiguration," she said, picking up a splinter of wood.

"Why? We learned this last year."

"Exactly. That way if something goes wrong, we can fix it. Now let's get started."

They poked and prodded at their splinters.

Finally, Ron got impatient and said the spell aloud.

Holly frowned. "Non-verbal spells are supposed to be performed in your head. That's why they're called _non-verbal_. Try again."

"I'm concentrating as hard as I can," said Ron, speaking mostly between clenched teeth. "It's not that easy."

 _This isn't working,_ Holly thought. "Alright then. We'll practice the spell verbally, then start whispering the spell, and then we'll try non-verbal. Sound good?"

Ron nodded.

"But you have to master the spell. Instant transfiguration." She waved her wand over the splinter. It promptly turned into a needle. Another wave reverted it.

Ron's eyes widened. "Merlin Holly, how long did that take you?"

"More times than I'd like," she muttered. Transfiguration was _not_ her favourite subject. "I had to practice a lot."

"How many times...?"

Holly pursed her lips at the unspoken question. "It took me about fifty tries to get that one perfect. I practised outside of class. I focused on what I was doing, then worked on getting it done faster and faster until I could do it with a wave, and then I tried saying the spell softer and softer until I didn't have to say it at all."

 _Then I repeat the process, only without a wand,_ she wanted to add but held back. She was already showing off quite a bit.

Predictably, Ron was rather intimidated. "I-I don't know about all this."

"Ron, how long have you been playing chess?"

He furrowed his brow. "I dunno. Since I was four or five, I reckon."

"How often did you play?"

"Nearly every day."

Holly smirked. "And now you're one of the best, if not the best in Gryffindor."

Ron shrugged, the tips of his ears turning red.

"It's the same with magic. You have to practice to get good at it. That's why we're here." Holly Levitated her textbook wordlessly to her side. "Let's go over the spells we learned last year, okay?"

Ron managed the Levitation charm nearly wordlessly before dinner.

"That was really good. And your wand hardly acted up!"

Frowning, Ron looked at the piece of wood. "Yeah, but it wasn't completely non-verbal, was it?"

"Hey, Rome wasn't built in a day."

"Huh?"

"It means it takes time to accomplish great things. Remember, practice."

Ron, who was not an overly patient person in the best of times, groaned. "Do we have to do this _every_ day?"

Holly was tempted to say yes just to see his reaction but remembered all the potions she had yet to brew, Muggle schoolwork and Quidditch practice. "No. How about once a week? Is Friday afternoon alright? I have a couple of hours before practice."

He frowned for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, that works."

**~•~**

"Good practice!" called Oliver as they descended onto the pitch, marking the end of Sunday's practice. "That was the best one yet!"

"Oi, Oliver!" said one of the Twins.

"When are we going to get a break?" said the other.

"Yeah, we've been practising every weekend!" added Katie Bell.

"And we're getting better each day," he replied evenly. "That's it for today, remember, practice on Friday before the Feast!"

The rest of the team grumbled as they made their way to the changing rooms. Holly yawned and made her way towards Ron, who was writing in his journal.

"What are you writing?" she asked.

Ron snapped the book shut. "Nothing." He looked at the now-empty pitch. "Practice is over, then?"

"Yeah, the Ravenclaw team will be here in a few. Where's Hermione?"

The redhead shrugged. "How should I know? I'm not her keeper."

"Er, right," she said uncertainly. Hadn't they patched things up? "How about we go over to Hagrid's?"

They made their way down the familiar path in no time at all and knocked on the door of the hut. Hagrid appeared at once, looking very grumpy, but his expression brightened when he saw who it was. "Bin wonderin' when you'd come ter see me—come in, come in—"

The preteens followed him inside. Holly eyed the cupboards that took up every nook and cranny, full of all kinds of substances from sugar to dried dragon meat to Acromantula venom. The ceiling was no less interesting; dozens of drying herbs hung overhead, often of the kind that couldn't be cultivated and had to grow wild. Fungi and pieces of bark joined them as well as—her breath caught.

"Hagrid, is that unicorn hair?" she asked. The silvery bundle was as long as her forearm and as thick as her thigh. Given the difficulty in getting even a single hair from an adult unicorn... And if her eyes weren't playing tricks on her, the tips of many unicorn horns could be seen peeking from behind one of the higher shelves.

"'Course it is! Wha' o' it?" the friendly giant said, unaware of her gobsmacked expression. "Bin handlin' the herd meself fer years an' years. Poor sods be desperate fer groomin'." He waved the huge pink umbrella of his at the fireplace and flames started dancing merrily inside. Their warmth quickly filled the hut, chasing away the late-October chill.

"How'd you light that fire?" asked Ron, looking at the flames so intently that they reflected on his eyes.

"Wha? Ah... er... ehm...magic?"

A memory of Hagrid lighting the fireplace in the old shack the Dursleys dragged them to came to mind. "I forgot you could do non-verbal magic, Hagrid," said Holly.

"Err... best yeh na be talkin' 'bout it." Hagrid shushed them then looked over both shoulders as if to confirm nobody was watching from the windows. "I'm nae supposed ta do magic."

"Why not?" asked Ron. "It's a well-performed piece of spellwork."

"Yeh... yeh think it was good?" asked Hagrid, chagrined.

The redhead rolled his eyes, fingering the journal. "Clearly."

"Right... well... ah... if yeh think...!" He abruptly sat on his huge bed, making the heavy wooden construction creak dangerously. "I'm gonna tell yeh, but yeh not be spreadin' it to no-one, yeh hear?"

Ron and Holly nodded.

"It's re'l simple. Words don't matter much. Forget 'em. Yeh needa think 'bout what you want teh happen. Use yer min' eye. Picture what yeh want an' make it real."

Holly felt vindicated. "Told you."

"What else?" asked Ron.

Hagrid shrugged. "Practice. All yeh can do." He stood up. "Come an' see what I've bin growin'."

In the vegetable patch behind Hagrid's house were a dozen of the largest pumpkins Holly had ever seen. Each was the size of a garden shed.

"Jus' 'bout ready fer Friday."

"Wow," said Holly, impressed.

"How did you get them to grow so fast?" asked Ron.

Hagrid fingered his flowery pink umbrella. "Well, I've bin givin' them—you know—a bit o' help—"

Just then Fang made his way out of the Forest, making a beeline for Hagrid.

"There yeh are! Hungry, ain't yeh?" he asked as he petted the slobbering boarhound. "I'll be back."

Ron stared after them, his face pensieve. "Dumbledore's man through and through," he muttered.

"What?"

"You know, I reckon Hagrid is a better teacher than most people think," said Ron. "Mum says you can't conjure or transfigure good food with magic, you know. All you can do is make more of what's there or help it along the way."

Holly leaned against a pumpkin thoughtfully. "I guess that's why you lot never went hungry, right?"

He nodded. "Mum uses all sorts of spells to make enough for everyone, but they're only nine of us. Hagrid's been doing it for years. Ron pointed at the pumpkin. "I'd bet he has to grow one of those every day or two so that we get all the pumpkin juice we want."

 _More like all the pumpkin juice you want,_ she thought with a small smile, happy that he was back to normal. "And everything else."

The two of them stared at the huge crop, then at the rest of Hagrid's garden and facilities. Cabbages, carrots and an assortment of vegetables grew unobtrusively at the forest's edge despite the late autumn weather. Further along, chickens of impressive sizes and colours could be seen through the wire of the coop, and even further she could see wild hogs darting in and out of the forest.

_No wonder the bacon tastes so good._

Hagrid stepped out of his hut and walked over to them, beaming at the state of his garden once again.


	6. Beware

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to Chuck and the HP Fanfic Writers’ Guild Discord for looking over this chapter. 

**Chapter 4: Beware**

The Gryffindor Tower brewing room was a smaller, brighter-lit version of its dreaded dungeon cousin. There was a stack of dubiously-cleaned cauldrons of varying sizes, metal types, and qualities in one corner. Next to them were old potions kits with half-filled ingredients in clear disrepair. A few of the counters were clean, but the rest looked like they hadn't been used in years, covered in dust and old notes. A few sinks in need of cleaning lined the back, but other than that, the room was pretty bare.

 _Percy wasn't kidding_ , Holly thought. _This place really is abandoned_. She Cleaned a counter and set down her potion ingredients, cauldron and books. Like the dungeons, each counter had an individual heat source built into it.

She waved her wand at the door and called Alex. “Take a look,” she said once he answered, panning the camera around the room.

_“Wow.”_

“I know, it’s a fright. It’ll take forever to clean properly.”

Alex rubbed his chin. _“Maybe that elf that’s been following you around can help.”_

She would have preferred to forget about Dobby. “Don’t remind me. How are the tests going? Are they done yet?”

_“Yes, and they passed the stability, preservative efficacy testing and the cosmetic safety report with flying colours.”_

Holly let out a sigh of relief. That was one hurdle crossed. “Will that be it?”

_“Not even close.”_

She resisted the urge to groan. “What else could there be?”

_“Everything has to be registered with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, we have to fill out a twenty-page form out for each potion that states things like what the active and inactive ingredients are, what containers we will be selling them in, the name of our company, whether it’ll be prescription-only, pharmacy or on the general sales list, if—”_

“Alright, alright,” she said, cutting him off. “Merlin, that’s a lot.”

 _“It is. Boil cure is a herbal cosmetic, so I don’t think it’ll take too long and it’ll probably be sold over-the-counter, and burn-healing paste shouldn’t be too much of a bother either, but dittany might be a problem since it’s going to be put on open wounds in addition to bruises,”_ he added. Then he frowned. _“Then again, burn-healing paste isn’t just for sunburns, those textbooks said it can be used on third-degree burns, and even second-degree burns have blisters that break the skin...we might have to market that one differently, but there are plenty of creams that treat superficial burns already...”_ pondered Alex, who was rapidly typing off-screen. 

Suddenly Holly was rather glad she didn’t have to focus on the paperwork—brewing was a breeze compared to that. “Did Dudley get back to you on how the potions are working?”

_“Oh yeah, he did. He said that one of his roommates had a sunburn and the paste worked fine on him, took longer though—said it was ten minutes? ‘Course, we don’t know how bad it was, or how accurate Dudley’s report is, but it’s a start.”_

Holly nodded. “What about the boil cure and the dittany?”

_“Boil-cure worked within the hour, dittany in about five minutes.”_

“That tracks,” she said, remembering their tests with Dittany. A small cut on her finger took mere seconds to heal; for Alex, just under a minute. In this case, the longer it took, the better—within reason, of course. 

_“I told Dudley he’ll get more money the more people try the potions. It should give us a good range for advertising when we finally get all the tests done.”_

“Let’s not add the quills before taking the cauldron off the heat,” she warned. “There’s still a chance this could all go pear-shaped, especially if my name’s involved. A small sample size might not be great, but it’s better than getting thrown in Azkaban.”

Alex sighed. _“I know.”_

 _Do you?_ she wondered. “How are we handling advertising? Are we going to create our own website or what?”

 _“We’ll probably have to rely on word of mouth to start,”_ said Alex, sounding apologetic. _“I know you don’t like it, but there’s so many products being sold that we’d have no chance of selling anything online until we have a solid client base off-line.”_

Holly sighed. Of course it wouldn’t be easy. “Alright, well in that case I suppose it’d help to have more people on board. We need more testers other than Dudley, though. Do you think your mum would be willing to get in touch with people?” 

_“Probably not...Hmmm...I think she has a list of people she sessions with every week. A lot of them are Squibs, and some of them didn’t change their surnames. I can forward you the list if I find it and you can cross-check it with your classmates.”_

The idea sounded a bit dodgy to her—what if they told their wizarding relatives? She could remember how desperate she was for the Dursleys’ acceptance once upon a time. But they had very few options left. “Okay. In the meantime I’ll start looking for ways to send potions over long distances—Hedwig’s great and all, but I don’t want her to get tired or for people to start asking questions.”

 _“Okay,”_ he said, typing again. _“How are you making out with Colin?”_

“Well, he kept following me everywhere and Parkinson had taken to spreading rumours that I was cheating on Ron—long story, don’t ask—so I encouraged him to focus his time elsewhere. He’s making a video yearbook now.”

Alex smirked. _“Are you sure it won’t be about you?”_

“Shut up, it’s for his parents mostly, but I’m sure some of the other Muggle-raised students would like a copy to show their parents.”

Alex hummed in agreement, and they continued their discussion long into the night. 

**~•~**

"So Holly, who do you fancy?" Lavender asked right before she could go to bed.

Fay discreetly closed her four-poster.

"Huh?"

"You know, who you like. I think Cormac McLaggen is definitely fanciable, don’t you?" She said as she examined her freshly painted nails.

 _Cormac McLaggan?_ Holly thought. Wood had mentioned the third year once or twice but never in a complimentary way. "Um... I dunno. I don't really fancy anyone."

"What about that first year, Creevey? He follows you around an awful lot."

Holly grimaced, mentally cursing Pansy. "Absolutely not."

"Weasley? The first year, if you like girls?" Parvati clarified.

She shook her head. Ginny was...Ron’s sister.

Lavender let out a dramatic sigh. "Merlin, Holly, you're such a bore. So you don't find _anyone_ fanciable?"

"Well...Justin's not that bad...?" Which was true, his curly black hair was always neat and his voice wasn't too bad to listen to. And everyone Muggle-raised had heard of Eton, so he had to be upper-class. But he seemed like the polite sort, not the snobby sort that lorded it over your head.

"Finch-Fletchley?" said Parvati. "He's Muggle-born isn't he?"

At her nod, Lavender added, "Well, at least he's cute, and he _does_ talk to you during Herbology." Her eyes sparkled. “Ooh, you should ask him out during class tomorrow!”

“Er, I don’t know—”

“What’s the harm? You do like him, don’t you?” 

“He’s nice enough, I guess. But we barely know each other.”

“That’s what a study date is for,” said Sally-Anne, finally adding her opinion. 

Lavender’s face twisted in distaste. “Well, I suppose a study date will be alright.”

Holly desperately looked towards the door, hoping that Hermione would save her from this increasingly awkward conversation. “I thought we were supposed to start dating next year?”

“Mama always says it’s never too early to find a good husband,” said Parvati.

Lavender clapped once. “That’s right! You’ll have to get up bright and early so that we can do your hair and nails! Appearance is everything, and if you want him to agree you need to make a good impression!”

“Haven’t I already?”

“As a friend, maybe, but if you want him to go out with you next year you need to start planting the seeds now,” said Sally-Anne with a smirk at her pun. 

Just then, Hermione entered the dorm, dropping her bag with a clunk and immediately headed to the bathroom. 

“Remember, bright and early tomorrow!” said Lavender, and the three remaining girls tucked into bed before Holly could respond. 

**~•~**

Ron’s eyes widened. “Bloody hell! What happened to you?”

“Lavender, Parvati, and Sally-Anne happened, that’s what,” said Holly as the trio made their way to Greenhouse Three.

“You could have said no,” said Hermione unsympathetically.

Holly snorted. “Yeah, because I hadn’t considered that.” She scratched her high ponytail, feeling rather ridiculous. 

The ‘makeover’ said dormmates had thrust upon her made her feel worse, not better. She had on last year’s robe, her hair done in a way that hid its natural unevenness, and magical lip gloss that promised perfectly pouty lips so long as it wasn’t washed off. Luckily for her, they hadn’t had enough time to do anything else, seeing as they completely missed breakfast. 

Holly couldn’t see the point in all of this and wished she had fended off her dormmates better. Frankly, it was a waste of time. Had they shared Charms or Transfiguration or History with the Hufflepuffs she could see the logic behind being done up like this, but Herbology was always a messy class. 

With a sigh, Holly soldered on in. Most of the class was already there, waiting for Professor Sprout. 

“I’ll go get our shovels,” said Hermione, going to the supply cabinet after they’d taken their seats. 

Holly looked around, catching the eye of Lavender and Parvati as they entered. 

“Go on,” mouthed Lavender, gesturing in Justin’s direction.

She swallowed. It was now or never.

“Er, Ron, you and Hermione work together today, alright?”

The redhead looked flabbergasted. “What? Why?”

“I’ll be working with someone else,” she replied and picked up her bag before he could reply. 

Holly walked over to the Hufflepuff side of the greenhouse, taking deep, slow breaths. 

_Stay calm, Potter._

“Hello, Justin,” she said, trying not to seem nervous. “How are you today?”

The Muggle-born turned to face her, stopping his conversation with Ernie MacMillian. “Hello, Holly. I’m fine, thank you.” He smiled. 

“Good.” She smiled back. “I was wondering if maybe we could work together today?”

“Sure.”

“Justin!” said Earnie with a hiss.

“What? You can work with Hannah, we always work together,” he said.

Ernie gave the two of them a look, rolled his eyes and walked towards the girls. 

“Sorry about that, Ern and I have been partners since the first day of class last year. Sometimes we work with Hannah or Susan or Wayne, but it’s usually just us two. I’m sure you understand. You, Hermione and Ron are like peas in a pod.”

Holly looked at her friends, who were currently in a quiet argument. “Yeah.”

The lesson began. Today they would be creating the proper magical soil for the Mandrakes as they began to transition to adolescence.

“Let’s see, the soil needs five parts dragon dung, three parts clay, one part sand and one part silt.”

“It’s fifty percent dung though, it’s not usually so high.”

“It has to be because of how fast they’re growing,” said Justin. “Ah, well, we might as well get started.”

They worked diligently on their assignment, which was no easy task. Everything had to be mixed evenly and thoroughly in order to prevent certain soil types from clumping together. 

Justin wiped his brow. “This is quite a workout, isn’t it?”

She wanted to disagree, but Lavender’s words echoed in her mind: _Remember to agree with everything he says!_

“Yeah, it is a bit much,” she said instead, carefully mixing the dung and sand. “All this stirring is reminding me of Potions.”

The Hufflepuff shuddered. “Don’t remind me, Snape scares me a bit, honestly.”

“Who isn’t scared of Snape, he’s like an overgrown bat.”

He laughed. “Too true.”

They continued their work in the same vein, taking turns mixing the unpleasant-smelling dung and soil. Justin was rather nice, and she felt almost as comfortable around him and she did with Ron and Hermione.

Professor Sprout nodded at their attempt. “Good work, you two. You’re free to leave.”

“I never asked why you look so different today.” 

“Just trying a new look,” said Holly as they left the Greenhouse.

“I like it. You look nice.”

“Thank you,” she replied, feeling her cheeks grow warm.

Justin smiled back as they walked in companionable silence. “It was great working with you today.”

“You too. Er, we should do it again sometime?” she asked, unable to stop herself.

For the first time that day, Justin frowned. “I don’t know, Ernie looked rather cross at me today.”

“Oh, I understand. Hermione and Ron didn’t look pleased either,” she said, trying to appear nonchalant. 

They set foot in the warm Entrance Hall and Justin turned to face her, looking hesitant. “But, you know, Professor Sprout gave us that ten-inch essay on the essential nutrients that Mandrakes need for proper development that’s due in a couple of weeks.”

Holly’s heart leapt. “Yeah?”

“Perhaps we could work on it together, say, Saturday afternoon?”

She nodded. “I’d like that.”

Justin grinned. “Smashing!” He immediately coughed and looked at his watch. “I have to go, Potions, you know how Snape is.”

“Yeah, McGonagall is only a bit better. See you Saturday?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed, and they nodded to each other before going their separate ways. 

_That went well,_ Holly thought as she went to freshen up. Justin was a great conversationalist and quite nice. Lavender and Parvati might baulk at the idea of a study date as opposed to an actual date, but she couldn’t care less. _I can’t wait to tell Ron and Hermione!_

**~•~**

“It appears,” began Snape as he sent their essays back with a wave of his wand, “That a certain House was unable to meet my expectations on their last assignment.”

The Gryffindor side grumbled. Holly frowned. She certainly could have done better, but it couldn’t have been as bad as Snape was making it out to be. 

“More than eighty percent have failed to get an acceptable mark, and I will not put those that did their work properly at risk,” he said, eyeing the Gryffindor side of the room with distaste. “Therefore, all Gryffindors will be brewing the Forgetfulness Potion, as there should be little chance of failure in that endeavour. At least,” Snape looked at her, Ron and Neville, “one can certainly hope.”

The Slytherin side snickered. The Forgetfulness Potion was first-year material.

“Slytherins will work on the Fire Protection potion. Instructions are on the board. Begin.”

Holly sighed. She had been looking forward to brewing said potion, and it appeared she wasn’t the only one; Hermione had deflated at the thought of brewing something she had already mastered, and Dean looked absolutely crushed. Holly knew that a successfully brewed potion would be invaluable for his dad. 

“Might as well get started,” she said to Ron, standing up.

The redhead remained silent as they went to fetch their ingredients from the student store-cupboard. 

“Are you seriously still angry with me?” she whispered. Neither of her friends were exactly thrilled with her Saturday plans, but Hermione was mollified that at least they were doing homework, and that she could ‘explore a different House member’s perspective’. Ron, on the other hand, went quiet at the news and wouldn’t talk to her for the rest of the day. 

Ron hacked at the standard ingredient herbs with his knife before dumping it into his water-filled cauldron. 

“Because I haven’t done anything wrong, you know. Neither has Justin.”

“So you won’t mind if I join you, then?” he finally said.

Holly looked up; Snape was still on the other side of the classroom praising Daphne Greengrass’ work. “I do mind, actually.”

“I don’t see what’s so special about Finch-Fletchley. You ditched Hermione and I last class and now you’re bailing on me for him tomorrow.”

Holly wanted to roll her eyes at him. “All we do is play chess, Ron.”

“It’s tradition!” he replied, offended. 

This time she did roll her eyes and added two drops of Lethe river water before passing him the bottle. “So what, I’m not allowed to have friends besides you and Hermione? And no, Alex doesn’t count.”

Ron added two Valerian springs and stirred his nascent potion. Holly, having finished that step, waved her wand over her cauldron and the color changed from clear to white.

“I never said that,” protested Ron as she loaned him her wand.

“That’s not what it sounds like,” she replied coolly.

They were forced to be silent when Snape came over to the Gryffindor side of the room, making the usual waspish remarks towards their Housemates. He looked at their simmering potions and then at Holly with a look of loathing that was practically dedicated for her and snapped, “Passable.”

“I just don’t trust him,” whispered Ron once Snape was out of earshot. “You didn’t talk to him at all last year and suddenly you’re all chummy with him.”

Something nagged Holly at the back of her mind. In fact, it reminded her of another boy’s reaction from that summer…

“Ron.” She held his sleeve, stopping him from grinding the mistletoe berries. He looked at her with a gaze that was quite unlike him—calm and attentive with just a hint of apprehension. “I’m not ditching you. You do know that?”

His ears turned red and he stared at the pestle he had been using.

“Well I’m not, alright? I’m still going to help you with the nonverbal stuff every Friday and we’ll still play chess and do homework together tomorrow. It’s just one study session, that’s all.”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive,” she said firmly.

The rest of class was decidedly less tense, and they completed their potions without much fuss. Holly internally signed as she bottled a sample of her finished potion and took it to the front for grading. Everything else that remained would vanish, as per usual. If there was one thing she hated about Potions it was the fact that Snape wouldn’t let them use what they brewed, no matter how well it was brewed. Of course she could always brew more potions in the newly-discovered Gryffindor lab but it was such a waste of time, money and ingredients not to keep what she had already made. 

_At least some things will never change,_ she thought as Malfoy made a show of giving Snape his work. 

**~•~**

"Where have you two been?" asked Hermione in the middle of eating her roasted potatoes. “The Feast started fifteen minutes ago!”

The duo sat down. "Sorry," began Holly.

"We've been practising non-verbal spells." Ron filled his plate with roast beef and chicken. "I reckon I'm getting the hang of it,” he said proudly.

The redhead had mastered the Levitation Charm and had made good progress with _Lumos_. 

"Non-verbal magic is years ahead, Ron," said Hermione in a chiding tone. "At this stage of our magical education, wand movements and incantations are terribly important."

 _They aren't_ , Holly wanted to say. _Untold Magical Theory_ made that very clear. Belief, desire and focus followed by emotion, knowledge, and age. That was important. Everything else was minor. Hagrid had proved it and so had Ron.

Hermione continued, "You should really work on getting your parents to buy you a better wand, or letting our Professors know about your issues."

Ron swallowed, the tips of his ears turning red. "What—"

Holly gently kicked Ron under the table and shook her head. Nodding to Hermione, she said, "Okay."

"It's best not to go ahead before you're ready," she said, spearing a broccoli floret.

An air of tension hung around the trio. Ron had slipped into another one of his increasingly common pensive moods and wouldn’t speak to either of them. He finished his meal and wrote in his journal before leaving.

Holly ate the last of Treacle tart methodically, trying to keep her calm. Ron and Hermione were never the best of friends. She wouldn’t deny that it was partly because of Ron’s callous remarks that sent Hermione to the bathroom exactly a year ago, but since then he had tried to be more considerate towards both of them.

Now it seemed as though the shoe was on the other foot, and Hermione was the instigator in all their recent conflicts. Ron had chosen to ignore and pacify Hermione for the most part, but it didn’t seem to stop her criticisms.

_Well, if Ron won’t stand up for himself anymore, I will._

“Was that necessary?” Holly finally asked Hermione.

Hermione started. “I was only trying to help! Ron needs a proper wand more than he needs to cast non-verbal spells. It takes months of practice, and frankly, I don’t think he has the tenacity to stick to it.”

“Ron has plenty of tenacity!” snapped Holly.

“Being good at chess and liking Quidditch doesn’t mean he can handle months of hard work. It’ll be easier if he just asks his parents to take him to Diagon Alley this weekend and get him a new wand. Trying to learn non-verbal magic to skirt around a damaged wand is the height of stupidity!”

Holly shook her head in disbelief. “I can’t believe you.” She stood up to leave when she spotted Ron’s things, left behind in his sudden exit. Hefting the tattered knapsack over her left shoulder she shot back at Hermione, “I’m going to go find him. _Someone_ has to.”

**~•~**

Holly covered her face with a pillow and screamed. 

The whole school had gone mad ever since the Chamber of Secrets was opened and she was the prime suspect. Never mind the fact that she only left the Feast five minutes early and Malfoy had yelled “You’ll be next, Mudbloods!” once he saw Mrs Norris—no, she was the only person that could have done it. 

Word had spread like fire and other than Ron, Hermione, and Colin, no one would speak to her. At lunch, she had hoped to see Justin in order to confirm their date, but he was nowhere to be found. Ernie and Hannah had given her mistrustful looks, and sure enough, Colin handed her a note at the end of the meal.

Justin had cancelled on her. 

She couldn’t honestly say that she fancied him much, but it would have been nice to see where things went. Now she would never know. 

_Who cares about some duffer?_ _I've got better things to worry about._

For one, her neglected non-magical schoolwork. She had a bad habit of skipping it for weeks or months at a time, and it would take her some time to finish. Luckily all she had to worry about was taking a test once she got home during the summer, so as long as she passed that, she’d be fine. 

Once that was done, she took a deep breath and thought, _Lumos_.

A ball of light came to life above her right hand. Holly smiled. Lumos was one of her favourites. 

_Wingardium Leviosa._ Her pillow floated in mid-air. 

She continued in the same vein, trying out her non-verbal and wandless magic with all the common first-year spells. The magical atmosphere of Hogwarts made it easy to cast non-verbal and wandless magic, proving her suspicions. Hogwarts was the best place to cast spells—needless to say—followed by the Weasleys, the Kanns, and then the Dursleys and the rest of the Muggle world. 

Hogwarts and the Weasleys made sense. Magical settlements encouraged easier spellcasting. The Kanns and the Dursleys, not so much. They were both Muggle homes in Muggle areas. 

_So what makes them so different?_

Holly sighed and checked the time. Dinner was almost over. Oh well, she’d just have to get an early breakfast tomorrow and subsist on snacks in the meantime.

The Common Room was expectedly full, but she still found Hermione sitting in their usual corner. 

“Hey Hermione.”

The girl frowned, closing the book she had been reading. It was an earlier edition of _Hogwarts, A History_ that Holly’d gotten her for her birthday. “You could have gone to dinner, you know. Where were you, by the way?”

Holly opened her packet of crisps. “Doing homework. You’ve must have read that book three times already.”

“Five,” corrected Hermione, “and I’m reading up on the Chamber of Secrets. This edition has a lot more information than my copy at home does.”

“What did you find?”

“Oh, the usual story,” she said, opening the book once more. “Hogwarts was founded by four great witches and wizards, Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They built the castle far away from Muggles over a thousand years ago—there’s no exact date—and brought young children who showed signs of magic to be educated here.”

Just then, Ron arrived. He looked rather put together for that time of day, his hair combed and clothes straightened and tucked. “So what’s all this?” he asked, sitting next to Holly.

“Hermione was telling me about what she found in _Hogwarts, A History_ ,” she said, looking between the two. With all that had happened the previous night she didn’t get back to the Tower until midnight, and by then most everyone was asleep. By the time she saw Ron again at lunch he seemed to have gotten over the Halloween disagreement.

Ron hummed. “Well? Go on then. Tell us.”

“The Founders worked together at first, but eventually Slytherin wanted to be more selective with which students would be admitted. He didn’t trust anyone with Muggle parentage, and wanted Hogwarts to be for pure-bloods only,” said Hermione, clearly furious. 

Holly scowled. Slytherin was no better than Malfoy, it seemed. No wonder he was eager to get into his House.

“And then?” asked Ron, his face pensive. 

“The other Founders disagreed with him, and after a fight with Gryffindor, Slytherin left the school.”

“Good riddance,” muttered Holly.

“Apparently, Slytherin had built The Chamber of Secrets somewhere in the school, and before he left he sealed it so that only his one true heir could open it. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic.”

“The horror within?” 

“Some sort of beast, the book didn’t say.”

The trio sat in silence, taking it all in.

“You know,” began Ron, “there’s a good explanation for Slytherin’s beliefs.”

“Like what?” asked Hermione, her eyes narrowed.

Holly ate a crisp.

“Well, Muggles back then were twisted loonies, chasing wizards around, trying to kill them. I’m sure a lot of Muggle-borns hated having magic and would do anything to get their families to love them, even betraying their own kind.”

“That was before the Statute of Secrecy was signed, though,” said Holly, trying to ignore the uncomfortable twisting in her gut and Hermione’s outraged sputters. “That doesn’t explain the Muggle hate now, almost three hundred years later. Most Muggles don’t even know we exist outside of fairy tales.”

“The Muggle hate only started up again a hundred or so years ago. Before that, Muggle-borns were pretty rare and were sought after to bring new blood to a family tree—Great Aunt Muriel’s words, not mine—as an alternative to marrying a Muggle. Then when the Muggles started getting better food and education and stuff like that, well, people got worried.”

“The Industrial Revolution,” said Hermione in realization.

“So suddenly there were a lot more Muggle-borns coming to Hogwarts, right?”

Ron nodded. “A lot of the old families started closing ranks. We didn’t want our culture getting erased by some novel ideas.”

“That doesn’t make it right,” snapped Hermione.

“I never said it did, but if you look at it from our point of view—”

“I have, and it’s an absolute load of rubbish!” Hermione gathered her books and stormed off without another word. 

Ron shook his head, looking disappointed. “I thought someone as smart as her would understand.”

Holly didn’t know what to think, and her thoughts raced long after she went to bed. 


End file.
